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IN PREPARATION 



The American Citizen's Manual, Part II. The Functions of 
Government : considered with special reference to taxation and ex- 
penditure, the regulation of commerce and industry, provision for 
the poor and the insane, etc., the management of the public lands, 
etc., etc., etc. Edited by Worthington C. Ford. 

G. P. PUTNAM'S SONS, NEW YORK. 



Questions of the Day.— v. 



THE 

American Citizen's Manual 

PART I 

GOVERNMENTS (National, State, and Local) 
THE ELECTORATE 

THE CIVIL SERVICE 




EDITED BY 



WORTHINGTON C. FORD 



Ool 23 j{ 



NEW YORK 
G. P. PUTNAM'S SONS 

27 & 29 WEST 23D STREET 
1882 






Copyright by 
G. P. PUTNAM'S SONS 

1882 



£. P. Putnam 1 s Sons 
New York 



INTRODUCTORY NOTE. 

What is the relation of the citizen of the United 
States to the governments under which he 
lives ? This question, which is quite distinct from 
questions concerning his relations to his fellow-citi- 
zens, is continually recurring as the population of the 
country increases, the interests of the people become 
more complex, and the interference of government 
with the rights and privileges of the citizen becomes 
more general. And it is a problem which, from its 
nature, is hardly capable of a satisfactory solution ; 
for the conditions are in a state of perpetual change. 
No sooner are present wants and needs provided for, 
than new questions arise, demanding attention. 
This matter of the relation of the governed to the 
government, is, then, pre-eminently and continually 
a " question of the day." 

But before attempting to show to what extent 
the powers of government have been exercised in 
the United States, some knowledge of the machinery 
of government, its organization and manner of act- 



IV INTRODUCTORY NOTE. 

ing, is necessary ; and it is, further, important to have 
clearly set forth the methods of choosing the agents 
of State action, and the more important points re- 
garding official responsibility and the civil service, 
for these subjects are more closely connected with 
the organization than with the functions of govern- 
ment. 

Of the difficulties which presented themselves to 
the editor some idea may be gained from the fact 
that the organizations of no two State governments 
are exactly alike ; and the editor has therefore con- 
fined himself to dealing with only the more essential 
branches of the subject, taking from the great va- 
riety of illustrations offered such as seemed best 
suited for his purpose. For the convenience of those 
who may desire to make a more complete examina- 
tion of the subjects treated of in this volume, a short 
list of works is added which will be found valuable 
for reference. 

Brooklyn, New York, 
September ) 1882. 



CONTENTS 



CHAPTER. PAGE. 

I. Governments, National and State i 

II. Local Governments . . . . e 53 

III. The Electorate . . . . . .84 

IV. Offices and Office-Holders . . . 116 



v 



American Citizen's Manual 



CHAPTER I. 

GOVERNMENT AND ITS FUNCTIONS. 

There can be framed no exact definition of gov- 
ernment, nor can its functions be so limited and de- 
fined as to include and satisfy all conditions that 
may arise. Government is, in its form and sphere 
of action, as varied as are the customs and conditions 
of the people over which it is instituted, nor is it the 
same among any one people at different periods of 
its history. In its widest sense, however, govern- 
ment is the ruling power in a state or political so- 
ciety ; and with regard to its functions, it may be 
practically described as the organization of the com- 
munity for such objects as are best obtained by com- 
mon action. And while the proper sphere of 
governmental action is as varied and as much a 
matter of dispute as is its form, yet the primary ob- 
ject of government is to protect life and property, 
and to insure to its subjects this protection by a 
proper definition and enforcement of their rights. 

All the various forms of government which are 
met with may be reduced to three classes, and this 
distinction into classes depends upon the numerical 



2 THE AMERICAN CITIZEN'S MANUAL. 

relation between the constituent members of the 
government and the population of the state. A 
monarchy is government by one man ; an aristoc- 
racy, by a number of men small in proportion to the 
whole number of the population ; and a democracy, 
by a number of men large in proportion to the popu- 
lation, or by a majority of the subjects of the state. 
These three principal forms may be combined, and 
a large number of mixed forms result ; but these 
mixed forms may all be ranged under one of the 
three great divisions or classes — monarchy, aristoc- 
racy, and democracy, — according to the predominat- 
ing feature. 

Government in the United States. 

The government of the United States is demo- 
cratic in its form ; that is, the decision of all matters 
pertaining to the welfare of the State rests with a 
majority of the people. But the number of the 
population is so great, the extent of territory so vast, 
and the interests at stake so varied and important, 
that the purely democratic form, in which what con- 
cerns all is decided by all, is not practicable ; and 
the actual performance of governmental duties is 
delegated to a number of officers elected by the 
rest. And through this method of representation a 
democracy may exist, although apparently falling un- 
der the definition just given of an aristocracy, for the 
number of the representative bodies, which are the 



GOVERNMENT AND ITS FUNCTIONS, 3 

government, is small in comparison with the number 
of the governed. But the power does not rest ulti- 
mately in these bodies ; they are clothed with cer- 
tain functions by the people, who may at pleasure 
take them away or modify them, for the people 
alone are the real rulers. 

In addition to this division of labor, by which the 
powers of government are entrusted to a few, a fur- 
ther saving of labor and an increase of efficiency are 
secured by a division of the functions of government, 
according to the size and extent of territory to be 
governed. It is sometimes said that a citizen of one 
of the United States is under four governments, 
national, State, county, and municipal. But when 
the powers or functions of each of these apparently 
distinct governments are examined, it is seen that 
there are but two, national and State. And a fur- 
ther examination will show that these are not sepa- 
rate and distinct governments, but are rather sup- 
plementary to one another, each having a sphere of 
action peculiar to itself. " The Federal and State 
governments," says the Federalist, " are in fact but 
different agents and trustees of the people, consti- 
tuted with different powers and designated for differ- 
ent purposes." 

From this dual character ot the government it 
might naturally be supposed that contests would 
arise as to where the power of the Federal govern- 
ment ends and the State government begins. So 



4 THE AMERICAN CITIZEN'S MANUAL. 

far as was possible this difficulty was obviated by 
defining the powers of the Federal government in a 
written instrument, the Constitution, under which 
the government was formed. And in order to form 
or constitute the national government such powers 
as were considered necessary to preserve it and 
give it effect were originally ceded to it by the 
people of the States. In general that government 
was formed for national purposes only, and its func- 
tions and powers to effect those purposes are sharply 
defined by the Constitution. To form a more per- 
fect union, to establish justice, to insure domestic 
tranquillity, to provide for the common defence, and 
to promote the general welfare, are all national ob- 
jects and affect equally the inhabitants of each 
State. To carry out these objects certain powers, 
few in number, but adequate in their nature to 
effect these and other national purposes, are granted 
to the national government. These powers are, 
moreover, limited by the Constitution, and extend no 
further than is granted by that document ; and what- 
ever powers are not so ceded, either expressly or by 
implication, are reserved by the people or have been 
delegated to the State governments. In all matters 
of which the national government has cognizance 
it is supreme, and overrides any State constitution 
or law that may conflict with its powers. And this 
is also true in such cases as taxation, in which na- 
tional and State governments possess concurrent 



GOVERNMENT AND ITS FUNCTIONS. 5 

powers, — the former always taking precedence. 
This was essential to the existence of the central 
government, as it effectually prevents any curtailing 
of its powers through hostile State legislation. At 
the same time protection against encroachment by the 
Federal government upon the powers of State is pro- 
vided by the limitations imposed by the Constitution ; 
although, it must be confessed, the protection is not 
so effectual as always to prevent such encroachment. 
As all power is, in theory, ultimately inherent in 
the people, the State government is a creature of the 
people, and being of limited powers, its sphere of ac- 
tion is also restricted and defined by a written con- 
stitution. These constitutions are framed by a body 
of men elected by the people for this special pur- 
pose, and resembling in all respects a legislative 
body, save that its action is confined to this immedi- 
ate matter, and when it has accomplished this, its 
powers end. 1 By these constitutions State govern- 
ment is instituted to secure to the people certain in- 
alienable rights, among which are those of life, lib- 
erty, and the pursuit of happiness. These are also 
objects of the national government. But as the 
latter is instituted for national purposes only, so the 
State government exists for State purposes only, and 
consequently its powers are limited to that extent 
of territory which is comprised in the State. The 
central government is one of general and delegated 

*See Jameson, " The Constitutional Convention." 



6 THE AMERICAN CITIZEN'S MANUAL. 

powers, while the State governments have all local 
and undelegated powers. Hence, if it is desired to 
know what power the central government has, the 
Federal Constitution must be looked into, for it has 
no other than what is there delegated ; but if it is 
desired to know what power belongs to the State 
government, not only must the Federal Constitution 
be examined, for whatever powers are not prohibited 
either by express language or necessary implication, 
belong either to the State government or the people, 
but also the State constitution, to see if the people 
have conferred upon it the power in question. 1 

In order to make the State government more ef- 
fective by not burdening it with details that are 
strictly local in their character, the territory of the 
State is divided into a number of divisions called 
counties, and these counties into townships, and 
over each of these divisions is placed a local govern- 
ment clothed with sufficient powers to enable it to 
regulate and control such matters as by their local 

*A constitution should be elastic and capable of amendment, so that it 
may be adapted to changed circumstances. The Federal Constitution is 
subject to amendment on the vote of two thirds of both Houses of Congress, 
or on the application of the Legislatures of two thirds of the several States ; 
and such amendments, when framed in convention, must be ratified or ac- 
cepted by three fourths of the States in whatever manner is proposed by 
Congress. With regard to amendments to State constitutions, the amend- 
ment is usually prepared and passed upon by the Legislature, and is then 
accepted or rejected by a vote of the people. In New York State such 
amendments must pass two successive Legislatures before it can be submitted 
to the people, the object being to prevent too frequent alterations in the or- 
ganic law of the State. In the same State the question of revising the consti- 
tution must be submitted to the people every twenty years, and a convention 
for that purpose is then called. In other States the Legislature may take 
the initiative and call a convention for revision. 



GOVERNMENT AND ITS E UNCTIONS. 7 

character belong to it. Hence arise county and 
municipal governments, commonly called local gov- 
ernments, which are, however, but branches of the 
State government, being created by it, and exercis- 
ing powers under its supervision and control. So 
that a citizen of this country is apparently under four 
governments — municipal or town, county, State, and 
national, — but as each is occupied with a different 
sphere of action, over different extents of territory 
and particular classes of needs, they in reality con- 
stitute but one complete government, under which 
all duties and functions are cared for and performed. 
But this power is not so absolute as might be 
imagined. For as all power lies in the people, and 
as the governments are created for special objects 
and derive all their powers from the consent of the 
governed, to the people belong the right of altering 
or abolishing any government that does not attain 
the objects for which it was framed, and of institut- 
ing instead such a new form of government as seems 
to them fitting. This does not, however, imply that 
a State has a right to withdraw from the confederacy, 
because it or its people believe the action of the 
national Government to be hostile to the interests of 
the State. It has been determined, and it is now a 
recognized principle, that in case any conflict of 
opinion arises between the national and a State gov- 
ernment, the will of the individual State is to be 
subordinated to the higher interests of the confed- 



8 THE AMERICAN CITIZEN'S MANUAL, 

eracy as a whole. By an amendment to the Federal 
constitution the State governments might be wiped 
out of existence 1 ; and in like manner the State gov- 
ernments might abolish all local governments. But 
such changes are hardly possible, because the dislike 
of centralization, or of placing all the power in one 
government, whether it be State or national, is too 
strong, and would check any such revolutionary de- 
signs. 

Branches of Government. 

The functions of government may be divided into 
three great divisions : the making of laws, or legis- 
lative ; their impartial interpretation, or judicial ; and 
their faithful execution, or executive. And in ac- 
cordance with this division of powers there are three 
departments of government — the legislative, the ju- 
dicial, and the executive, — which are generally dis- 
tinct and co-ordinate departments ; and the more 
sharply is the line drawn in the functions proper to 
each department, the greater will be its indepen- 
dence, and the higher will be the efficiency of the 
government. These three branches of government 
are distinctly recognized, and the separation of their 
functions is expressly provided for both in the 

1 At the close of the war many of the Southern States were without any 
form of government save that of military rule. By the Constitution the 
United States shall guarantee to every State in the Union a republican 
form of government ; by which is meant a government in which laws are 
enacted by the representatives of the people and not by the people them- 
selves. See citations in McCrary, " Law of Elections," § 152. 



GO VERNMENT AND ITS FUNCTIONS. 9 

national and State constitutions. And the State 
constitutions forbid a person belonging to or consti- 
tuting one of these departments, to belong to or ex- 
ercise any of the powers belonging to either of the 
others, except under certain conditions, when such a 
course is desirable or necessary. Yet, as will be 
shown, these departments are not wholly indepen- 
dent of one another, but each one may serve as a 
check upon the actions of either or both of the others. 
And not only are they checks upon one another, but 
one of these departments does, at times, exercise 
functions which more properly belongs to one of the 
other departments. Thus, the appointment of officers 
is properly an executive function ; yet the Senate, a 
branch of the Legislature, must be consulted in many 
of such appointments, and to that extent exercises 
an executive function. Again, the Senate, when try- 
ing an impeachment, is performing a duty which is 
of a judicial character ; and when passing upon con- 
tested elections of its members, Congress is exercis- 
ing a judicial function. Formerly some of the State 
Legislatures granted divorces, a power which they 
exercised concurrently with the courts. The exer- 
cise of the veto power by the Executive is more of a 
legislative than an executive act, and in giving his 
approval to laws the Executive becomes, in reality, a 
part of the Legislature. Still, generally speaking, the 
executive, Legislature, and judiciary, are distinct and 
co-ordinate branches of government. 



IO THE AMERICAN CITIZEN'S MANUAL. 

The Legislative Function. 

Chancellor Kent says that the power of making 
laws is the supreme power in a State, and experi- 
ence has shown that it is the branch of government 
which is most apt to enlarge its own sphere of action 
by encroaching upon the functions of the executive 
and judicial branches and by assuming powers which 
properly belong to these latter branches. The most 
important duty or function of the Legislature is to 
discuss questions of public policy and to frame such 
measures as are necessary to further public welfare. 
While it is a law-making body, it is also a body for 
deliberation. Any question that is brought before 
such a body should be decided upon its merits only, 
and a complete and thorough presentation and dis- 
cussion of its various aspects, its probable causes 
and effects, are necessary to secure the proper re- 
medial measures. Freedom of debate is therefore a 
requisite to the proceedings of the legislative body. 
Discussion of measures is secured, first, by the organ- 
ization of the Legislature ; and, secondly, by the rules 
which govern its proceedings. 

Organization. By the Constitution all legisla- 
tive powers are vested in a Congress of the United 
States, which shall consist of two branches, a Senate 
and a House of Representatives. In like manner 
the legislative power of the governments of the dif- 
ferent States is vested in an Assembly, which also 
consists of two branches, known under different 



GOVERNMENT AND ITS FUNCTIONS. II 

names. In all the States the upper or smaller House 
is known as the Senate, and the lower body gener- 
ally as the House of Representatives. But in Mary- 
land, Virginia, and West Virginia the lower House 
is called the House of Delegates, and in a few States 
the Assembly. The two bodies are very generally 
known as the Legislature. 1 The concurrence of 
the two Houses is necessary to the enactment of 
laws. 

The division of the Legislature into two branches 
is to insure against hasty and ill-advised legislation. 
Naturally, when a measure is thoroughly discussed 
in two bodies, there will be less liability to such 
error, and this liability will be further lessened the 
greater is the difference in the constitution of the 
two bodies, either with respect to their numbers, the 
mode of election, or the term of service. These 
differences are very marked in the national Legis- 
lature. The Senate is not only the smaller body of 
the two, but its members are not chosen directly by 
the people, but by an intermediate body, the State 
Legislature ; and the term of service is long when 
compared to that of a member of the House of Rep- 
resentatives. The qualifications required of a Sena- 
tor are of a higher degree than those of a Represen- 
tative, but in both instances he must be an inhabitant 

1 " As a collective title (in 1881), therefore, General Assembly is used in 
twenty-three States ; Legislature, by twelve States ; General Court, by two 
States ; and Legislative Assembly, by one State ; but in all the States, Legis- 
lature is very often used as equivalent to the official title." 



12 THE AMERICAN CITIZEN'S MANUAL. 

of the State from which he is chosen. The differences 
may be illustrated by a table : 







Citi- 


Term of 




Age. 


zenship. 


service. How chosen. 


Senate, 


3° 


9 


6 By the State Legislature. 


House, 


25 


7 


2 By popular vote. 



— In either case they must be residents of the State 
for which they are chosen. 

There is, further, a difference in the organization 
of the two Houses which materially modifies their re- 
lations to the people: the Senate being rather a 
body representing the States, while the House of 
Representatives represents the people of the States. 

The Senate is composed of two Senators from 
each State, and these Senators are chosen by the 
State Legislatures. The representation is then 
equal, each State having two Senators and each 
Senator having one vote ; and no difference is made 
among the States on account of size, population, or 
wealth. The Senate is not, strictly speaking, a popu 
lar body, and the higher qualifications demanded of 
its members, and the longer period of service, make it 
the more important body of the two. The Senate is 
presumedly more conservative in its action, and acts as 
a safeguard against the precipitate and changing legis- 
lation that is more characteristic of the House of 
Representatives, which, being chosen directly by the 
people, and at frequent intervals, is more easily af- 
fected by and reflects the prevailing temper of the 



GOVERNMENT AND ITS FUNCTIONS. 1 3 

times. The Senate is more intimately connected with 
the Executive than is the lower body. The President 
must submit to the Senate for its approval the trea- 
ties he has contracted with foreign powers ; he must 
ask the advice and consent of the Senate in the ap- 
pointment of ambassadors, other public ministers 
and consuls, judges of the Supreme Court, and all 
other officers of the United States whose appoint- 
ments have not been otherwise provided for„ Until 
1867 the Senate could assent only to the appoint- 
ment to office ; the removal of an officer depended 
wholly upon the President, the Senate not being con- 
sulted ; and this power was subject to grave abuse 
whenever the Executive changed from one party to 
another. In 1867 the Tenure of Office Act was 
passed, and provided that while Congress was not in 
session, the President might suspend any official, 
but if the Senate on meeting did not concur in such 
suspension, the officer should resume his place. 
This practically rendered the consent of the Senate 
necessary to a removal, because by refusing to as- 
sent to a new nomination, the suspended officer 
would remain in office, as a suspension is not equiva- 
lent to a removal. The Senate has sole power to 
try all impeachments, but it cannot originate pro- 
ceedings of impeachment. 

The manner of choosing Senators was regulated 
and made uniform by an act of Congress passed in 
1866. Before that time in some States they were 



14 THE AMERICAN CITIZEN'S MANUAL. 

chosen viva voce, in others by ballots, in some by a 
separate vote in each House, in others by both Houses 
meeting and voting as one body» Under the act 
they are to be nominated in each House by a viva 
voce vote, and if not decided upon in this way, the 
two Houses meet and vote together until some choice 
is made. 

In case a vacancy occurs when the State Legislat- 
ure is not in session, the governor may make a 
temporary appointment ; but at the next meeting of 
the Legislature the vacancy must be filled in the 
usual way. 

The presiding officer of the Senate is the Vice- 
President of the United States. He is elected in 
the same manner as the President, for were he 
chosen from the Senate itself, the equality of repre- 
sentation would be broken. He has no vote save 
when the Senate is equally divided, and his powers 
are very limited. 

The House of Representatives is elected directly 
by the people, and is organized on a very different 
basis than that on which the Senate rests. The 
number of Representatives that each State is entitled 
to, depends upon its population. The number of 
Representatives was originally fixed at 65, which were 
apportioned among the States in the ratio of one 
Representative for every 30,000 population, though 
a State was entitled to at least one Representative 
even if its population did not amount to 30,000. 



GOVERNMENT AND ITS FUNCTIONS. I J 

At the same time it was provided that this ratio 
should be altered at the end of every ten years, 
when a new census of the population should be 
taken. The last apportionment was made in 1882, 
and was based on the res-ults of the census of 1880. 

In the first apportionments it was the rule to first 
determine the number of inhabitants entitled to a 
Representative, and then by dividing the population 
of each State by this number, arrive at the number 
of Representatives the State was entitled to. But of 
late Congress determines the number of members 
the House shall contain, and then apportions them 
among the States in proportion to the respective 
populations. The following table will show how this 
branch of the Legislature has increased. 



Year. 


No. of Representatives, 


Being one 


for every 


1792 


106 


33,000 


inhabitants 


1802 


141 


33,000 


66 


1811 


181 


35>°°° 


•• 


1822 


2IO 


40,000 


(( 


1832 


240 


47,700 


U 


1842 


240 


70,680 


66 


1*53 


233 


94,000 


66 


1862 


241 


128,215 


U 


1872 ■ 


292 


135,293 


66 



Two methods have been adopted for the election of 
Representatives, the one called the general ticket sys- 

1 Between 1872 and 1882 Colorado became entitled to one Representative, 
making the total number 293. 



1 6 THE AMERICAN CITIZEN'S MANUAL, 

tern, the other the district system. In the former 
the qualified voters of the State were allowed to vote 
for every Representative to which the State was en- 
titled. Each Representative, was thus elected by the 
whole State. In the latter method the State was 
divided into a number of districts, and each district 
voted only for its immediate Representative. By an 
act of Congress of 1842, to create uniformity on 
this subject and to afford a more equal representa- 
tion of the inhabitants of each State, it was prescribed 
that the Representatives in each State should be 
elected by the voters in districts composed of con- 
tiguous territory and equal in number to the number 
of Representatives the State is entitled to ; each dis- 
trict to contain, as nearly as possible, the same num- 
ber of inhabitants, and no district to elect more 
than one Representative. This necessitates a redis- 
ricting of the State with every change in the number 
of Representatives assigned to it, and has been sub- 
ject to abuse from party motives in more than one 
instance. Thus the noted " shoe-string " district 
in Mississippi is five hundred miles long and about 
forty miles broad ; it contains no considerable town 
save Vicksburg, and is almost wholly rural. An- 
other instance is the " dumb-bell " district in Penn- 
sylvania, which resembles the shape of that object. 
A very recent instance of such a curious division 
of the State for political purposes has arisen under 
the apportionment of Representatives of 1882 in the 




MAP 

OP THE 

STATE OF SOUTH CAROLIN, 

SHOWING THE 

CONGRESSIONAL DISTRICTS 
1882. 



\PICKENS& \ 



iSPARTANfeuRG 



\ OCONEE. 



\TK4 



CHF - Trn : O \CHESTERFIELD. Y% \ 

CHESTER. iLANCASTER.N / % ; \ 



MDERSON. 

3 



•^or^K 



EDGEFIELD. /LEXINGTON 



AIKEN.. /^^ °J*AN <>f^ U 



MAP 
STATE OF SOUTH CAROLINA, 

SHOWING THE 

CONGRESSIONAL DISTRICTS. 
1882. 




GOVERNMENT AND ITS FUNCTIONS. IJ 

State of South Carolina. Thus, the manner of form- 
ing the seventh district, as shown on the accompany- 
ing diagram, proves how elastic the provision that 
districts must be composed of contiguous territory 
may be. The special peculiarity of this district, apart 
from its remarkable general outline, lies in the fact} 
that the narrow strip connecting the two parts is 
completely covered at high water, and the " land " is 
contiguous only at low water. Nor is the first dis- 
trict any the less remarkable, as it is intended to 
include the narrow strip of territory running between 
the two parts of the seventh district. 1 In these in- 
stances the curious shapes were laid out for political 
reasons, so as to assure the return of a Representa- 
tive belonging to one of the political parties. The 
actual redistricting of the State is left to the Legis- 
lature of the State. Congress merely designates the 
number of Representatives a State is entitled to, 
and thus determines the number of districts the 
State shall contain ; but it leaves the actual division 
to the State. 

In case a State becomes entitled to an additional 
Representative, and the Assembly fails to redistrict 
the State, the new member is voted for on a general 
ticket by the voters of the whole State, and he is 
known as a " Congressman-at-Large." 

1 This example is mentioned as an aggravated instance of the means em- 
ployed by parties to gain their end ; and although it happens to be one which 
was done by the Democratic party, yet instances almost equally arbitrary 
may be attributed to the Republican party. 



1 8 THE AMERICAN CITIZEN'S MANUAL, 

Should a vacancy occur, the governor, by procla- 
mation, orders a special election to be held in the dis- 
trict where the vacancy has occurred, but the mem- 
ber so elected serves only for the unexpired term 
of his predecessor. 

A territory having a regularly organized territorial 
government, that is, having a governor, judges, and 
certain other officers appointed by the President, is 
entitled to send one delegate to the House of Rep- 
resentatives. Such a delegate, however, has but 
limited rights, and although he may take part in the 
debates, he has no vote. The District of Columbia, 
although it was constituted a territory and received 
a territorial government in 1871, cannot send a dele- 
gate to Congress. 

The House of Representatives has the sole power 
to institute proceedings of impeachment against of- 
ficers of government. But its powers end with pre- 
paring the articles of impeachment, and the actual 
trial is held by the Senate. 

The presiding officer of the House is the Speaker, 
and is chosen from among the Representatives. He 
is not, like the Vice-President, without important 
powers, for he appoints the various committees of 
the House, in which most of the bills to be acted 
upon by the House are prepared. This patronage, or 
power of appointing, makes the speakership sought 
after, and, like all such offices, it is often filled sub- 
ject to " bargains/' " trading," and other devices 



GOVERNMENT AND ITS FUNCTIONS, 1 9 

among the candidates to secure a majority of the 
votes. 1 

Each House is very properly made the sole judge 
of the election returns and qualifications of its mem- 
bers, for there is no other branch of the government 
to which this power could safely be trusted. With 
every Congress there arises a contest between the 
rival candidates over a seat in the House, each 
claiming to have been elected by a majority of legal 
votes. In such cases it is the duty of the House to 
examine into the returns, and, in accordance with 
the results of such examination, declare which con- 
testant is entitled to the seat. When the two po- 
litical parties in the House are evenly balanced, 
party spirit plays an important part in such contests, 
and it is no infrequent event, under such conditions, 
for a contested seat to be given to one whose only 
recommendation is that he is of the same politics 
with the dominant party in the Houses, and without 
any regard to the legal aspects of the case. 

Each House also determines the rules of its pro- 
ceedings, and punishes or expels its members, but 
in the case of expulsion, a two-third vote is re- 
quired. Each must keep a journal of its proceed- 
ings, and publish whatever parts do not require 

1 When the rule giving the appointment of committees to the Speaker was 
first adopted in 1789, it provided that when the committee consisted of 
more than three members, they were to be elected by ballot. This rule 
has, however, been long inoperative, and not one of the forty-three Standing 
Committees of the House contains so few as three members. The member 
first named on any committee is the chairman. The general duties of each 
committee are given in the Rules of the House of Representatives. 



20 THE AMERICAN CITIZEN S MANUAL. 

secrecy ; the proceedings in " executive session >? of 
the Senate are always secret, although the secrecy 
may be removed by a subsequent vote of the house. 
On the demand of one fifth of the members present 
the yeas and nays may be called and are entered in 
the journal. The importance of this provision can 
hardly be overestimated. It shows to his constitu- 
ents what the member is doing, and how he votes 
on a particular measure. So far as it serves this 
purpose this publicity is a salutary check on the 
member, for he may be called to account for his vote 
by those whose interests he represents. Still in 
some cases a demand for the yeas and nays is re- 
sorted to by those who are opposing a measure, and 
make the call for the purpose of delaying action. 

The members of Congress enjoy certain impor- 
tant privileges which serve to protect and secure in- 
dependence in their judgment and action. In order 
that the transaction of business may not be inter- 
rupted, the members are exempt from arrest while 
attending at the sessions of their respective Houses, 
or while going to or returning from the same, ex- 
cept for treason, felony, and breach of the peace 
(which has been construed to include all criminal of- 
fences, so that the exemption from arrest extends only 
to civil matters). And in order to secure perfect free- 
dom of debate the members shall not be questioned 
in other places for any speech or debate made in 
either House ; but this applies only to what was 



GOVERNMENT AND ITS FUNCTIONS, 21 

spoken in debate, and if a member causes a libel- 
lous speech to be published, he may be held answer- 
able. For its own protection Congress has also 
power to punish for contempt, when committed by 
one who is not a member of either House, and what 
constitutes contempt is not defined, but is left to 
the judgment and discretion of the House under 
the circumstances of each case. The power to pun- 
ish extends, however, only to imprisonment, and this 
is terminated by the adjournment or dissolution of 
Congress. 

Congress must meet at least once a year ; and 
neither House can, without the consent of the other, 
adjourn for more than three days, nor to any other 
place than that in which the two Houses shall be sit- 
ting. An adjournment of Congress has the effect of 
terminating all the business which is before it ; but 
if any important and essential measure remains un- 
acted upon, or if, during a recess of Congress, there 
should occur an emergency requiring legislative ac- 
tion, the President may by proclamation call an ex- 
tra session of either body, or of both Houses. 

Of the legislative powers of Congress nothing 
need be said in this place, for it will be fully treated 
of in the second part of this compilation. Suffice it 
to say that in all matters of legislation the two 
Houses are an entire and perfect check upon one 
another. The only right which the House in its 
legislative capacity enjoys, and which is not equally 



22 THE AMERICAN CITIZEN'S MANUAL. 

shared by the Senate, is that of originating all bills 
tor raising revenue ; and even these bills are subject 
to revision by the Senate. 

Fulness of debate is further secured by the rules 
which govern the procedure of either House. Thus 
all bills 1 are required to be read three times in each 
House, and these readings must be on three different 
days, unless in urgent cases the House dispense with 
the rule. The first reading is for information only, 
and if there be made any opposition, the question is 
upon the rejection of the bill. If not opposed or re- 
jected it is read for a second time, and the question 
is then upon its commitment or engrossment. If 
committed, it is either to a standing or select com- 
mittee consisting of a few, or to a general committee 

1 A bill is an act in its incipient stage. All bills, save revenue bills, may 
originate indifferently in either House, and they are usually referred to one of 
the committees, which reports them back to the House, there to be acted upon. 
The report of the committee has usually great weight in determining the fate 
of a measure. As these committees play an important part in legislation, a 
further description of them will not be out of place. After the second read- 
ing a bill is usually referred to its proper committee, and among this small 
body of members the examination of the measure is made more easily and 
with greater dispatch than if the whole House should attempt it. The com- 
mittee reports to the House, and both the bill and report are then considered 
in .he full House. Almost all measures have to pass in this way through 
committees. A private claim, when referred to a committee in the usual 
way, is given into the charge of one or more of the members of the com- 
mittee, as a sub-committee, who then proceed to examine and report upon 
it. Except upon important measures the House accepts the report of the 
committee without question. 

The House may, by a vote of a majority of its members, resolve itself into 
a Committee of the Whole House on the state of the Union. In such cases 
the speaker leaves the chair, after appointing a chairman to preside in com- 
mittee. On motion the committee may rise, when the Speaker resumes the 
chair, and the chairman reports to the House the results of the committee 
session. When no determination is reached the chairman reports that the 
committee has had under consideration such a bill, "and has come to no 
resolution thereon." This committee is an important one, because every mo- 
tion for a tax or charge upon the people must be first discussed by it. 



GOVERNMENT AND ITS FUNCTIONS. 23 

of the whole House. After discussion in committee 
the bill is reported back to the House, with or with- 
out amendments, and it may be further amended in 
the House. When a bill is sufficiently matured, the 
question is upon its engrossment for a third reading ; 
and the bill is again open to debate, but may not be 
amended. If it passes its third reading in both 
Houses, and receives the assent of the President, 
it becomes an act. But at almost every stage of this 
proceding the bill may be suppressed should a ma- 
jority so desire. In case of disagreements between 
Senate and House on a bill, some settlement is at- 
tempted by committees of conference in which both 
Houses are represented. " Incidentally it may be 
remarked that conference committees have had of 
late an important influence on legislation. They 
are small, secret, and homogeneous bodies, and ap- 
pointed rather than elected. The differences be- 
tween the Houses are often more apparent than 
real, and are intended to befog the public. It has be- 
come the common remark, * We will make a record in 
the two Houses, and then fix it up in conference/ " x 

It has sometimes been complained that the oppor- 
tunities for debate are such as to be exposed to 
abuse, for a minority can block the progress of legis- 
lation by merely talking against time. 2 It is doubt- 

1 N. Y. Evening Post, Aug. I, 1882. 

2 In the House all debate may be shut off by moving the ' ' previous ques- 
tion," and nothing can then be done until the previous question has been 
decided. In the Senate debate can be stopped only by agreement. 



24 THE AMERICAN CITIZEN'S MANUAL. 

ful if any limitations other than those now in exist- 
ence could be imposed without leaning too far in the 
other direction and thus leading to hastily considered 
and insufficient legislation. The tendency to talk 
has been increased by the great facilities of com- 
munication of the present day, by which the reports 
of the proceedings of such bodies are carried over 
the country, and through the medium of the press 
reach the furthermost limits of the land. A mem- 
ber is led to believe that he cannot better show his 
active interest in the welfare of his State, or prove 
to his constituents his zeal in their behalf, than by 
making a speech which is duly printed and circu- 
lated over the country, thus keeping him before the 
people. At one time it was thought that the mere 
printing of a speech was enough, and speeches that 
had never been delivered were printed in the official 
record of the proceedings of Congress ; but so great 
did the scandal become that the privilege was done 
away with, and the consent of the House is now- 
necessary to the insertion of any speech or even 
statistical table that is not actually read on the floor 
of the House during debate. Very recently a long 
speech in .the form of a poem was thus inserted. 

The bills before Congress are either public or pri- 
vate measures. The former concern the whole 
country, while the latter deal with a district, a locali- 
ty, or an individual. The number of private bills 
and claims that annually come before Congress is 



GOVERNNENT AND ITS FUNCTIONS. 



25 



enormous, and it has become a serious question how 
this pressure may be relieved. As illustrating the 
amount of business before each Congress for the last 
twenty years, but a very small part of which has ever 
been attended to, and the bulk of which is private 
bills, the following table may be given. 

A statement of bills and joint resolutions introduced in each 
Congress from 1861 to 1881, inclusive. 



Congress. 



o 



u C 

a o 

en XJ 



Thirty-seventh, 1861-65 
Thirty-eighth, 1863-65 
Thirty-ninth, 1865-67 
Fortieth, i867-'69 
Forty-first, i869~'7i . 
Forty-second, 1871— '73 
Forty-third, 1873-75 
Forty-fourth, 1875— '77 
Forty-fifth, 1877— '79 • 
Forty-sixth, 1879-81 



Total 



Grand total 



433 

485 

635 
980 

i,375 
1,652 
1,362 
1,293 
1,865 
2,224 



12,304 



i37 

128 
184 
244 
326 

i5 

20 

33 

72 

167 



1,326 
12,304 



13,630 



613 

813 

1,234 

2,023 

3,o9t 

4,o73 
4,891 

4,7o8 
6,549 

7,257 



35,252 
3,264 



38,516 
13,630 



52,146 



158 

182 

305 
476 

522 

592 
162 
196 
250 
419 



3,264 



When the State Legislatures are treated of, it will 
be seen that steps have been taken to check this 



26 THE AMERICAN CITIZEN'S MANUAL. 

growing evil by provisions or amendments to the 
State constitutions. 

The checks on legislation do not consist alone 
in such as are laid down by the rules governing 
the procedure of Congress. The President has 
the veto power, which is not to overthrow or even 
obstruct legislation, but which merely forces a re- 
consideration by Congress of the vetoed measure ; 
and the Supreme Court may destroy the force of a 
law by declaring its provisions to be contrary to the 
Constitution. 

Such, then, is the organization of the national 
legislature, and its manner of acting. 

The State Legislature. 

The State Legislatures are not organized on i 
uniform plan, but differ among themselves in the 

manner of apportioning Representatives among their 
respective populations, in the qualifications required 

of the members, and in the powers and duties of 
these bodies. These differences are, however, mere 
matters of detail, and will not alter in any important 
particular the general plan of organization that will 
here be given. 

The most essential difference between the nation- 
al and State Legislatures, apart from their different 
spheres of action, lies in the representation. In tl 
national Legislature we have seen that the S 



GOVERNMENT AND ITS FUNCTIONS. 2? 

represents the States, and the House of Representa- 
tives the people ; the members of the one owing 
their election to the State Legislature, those of the 
other to the people. In the two branches of the 
State Legislature no such distinction exists ; nor 
could any such be made, because when the State 
governments were formed there were no two such 
clashing interests as were represented by the State 
and central governments, and which played so im- 
portant a part in the formation of the Federal Con- 
stitution and in the organization of the government 
to be exercised under it. It was desirable to make 
the two branches unlike, but from the circumstances 
of the case there could not be the same degree of 
dissimilarity as was adopted in the constitution of 
Congress. Deriving all its powers from the people 
of the State, and, moreover, concerned with matters 
which pertain to the interests of the State, the mem- 
bers of both houses are elected directly by the people. 
As far as is possible the two Houses are organized 
on different principles. Thus, the Senate is the 
smaller body of the two ; its members are elected 
for a longer term of service, and are chosen from larger 
districts ; and it thus possesses more stability and 
permanence, and less of local prejudice and local in- 
terests. The members of the lower House, repre- 
senting smaller districts and subject to frequent 
change, come more directly from the people, and are 
quicker to reflect public opinion. 



28 THE AMERICAN CITIZEN'S MANUAL. 

For political purposes the State is divided into a 
number of Senatorial and Assembly districts, the num- 
ber of each class of districts bearing some relation to 
the number of members in either House to be chosen. 
Thus a Senatorial district may coincide with the bound- 
aries of the counties of the State, and each district 
may be entitled to send one or more Senators to the 
State Senate. Or the State may be so divided as to 
give to each division or district, as near'. be, 

an equal number of inhabitants, or even b( voters ; 
and in such cases more than one count}- may be in- 
cluded in the Senatorial district ; though to prevent 
gerrymandering, that is, the division of th< in 

such a manner as to gain an im ad- 

vantage, it is usually provided that In the forma- 
tion of these districts no county shall be divided, 
and that they shall consist of contigi* 
And in like manner the Assembly district 
but as the number is almost always made to depend 
upon population, a new districting (A the is 

rendered necessary with every new enumeration 
of the people, which occurs generally in ten 

years. The apportionment is usually that 
Assembly, but in Michigan, where a county is entitled 
to more than one Representative, the Board o\ 5 
visors, a county institution, makes the necessary 
division into Representative districts. 

Of the qualifications required o\ | State ] Sc 
and Representatives little need be said 






GOVERNMENT AND ITS FUNCTIONS. 2$ 

not be necessary to give the various differences that 
exist among the States. In general, there are re- 
quirements as to age and citizenship, and a certain 
length of residence in the State, county, or district. 
Formerly a greater number of qualifications were re- 
quired : such as the possession of 300 acres in fee 
(Xo. Ca.), must be a tax-payer (111., Mo., etc.), must 
be of the Protestant religion (N. H.), or he must be 
a person M noted for wisdom and virtue" (Vt.). In 
the Kentucky constitution of iS5o, which is still in 
force, occurs the curious provision : " No person, 
while he continues to exercise the functions of a 
clergyman, priest, or teacher of any religious per- 
suasion, society, or sect, . . . shall be eligible 
to the General Assembly." (Art. ii, § 27.) 

In order to secure the independence of the legisla- 
tor, and remove him from outside influences that 
might bias his judgment, no person holding any 
office of trust or profit under the United States or 
the State, shall be eligible! to a seat in the State 
Legislature. Furthermore, in some States no mem- 
ber of the Legislature can receive a fee or serve as 
counsel, agent, or attorney in any civil case or claim 
against the State. But apart from these limitations 
any qualified elector may be elected to the Legis- 
lature. 

When a vacancy occurs in either House, the gov- 
ernor of the State, or the House in which the vacancy 
occurs, or the presiding officer of the House, issues 



30 THE AMERICAN CITIZEN'S MANUAL. 

writs of elections to fill such vacancy, the practice 
differing among the States. 

The privileges of State Represented 
much the same as those of national i 
and, like them, they are privile in 

civil process during the md 

for a reasonable period b 

them to go and return from In R 

Island the exemption i I to th< 

and their estates cannot be d within 

scribed period. The | the I !■ 

governed by the ordinary nil 
conduct of business in 

the restrictions on legislation are in many S 
greaterthan are to be found in th 
Thus in some stales i AJal 
must have been referred to a commit 
House and returned th 
a law, and thus by a constitutional ; 
mittee is made an essential part of I In 

many States limitations are imp 
introducing measures. Thus in A 
bill shall be introduced into either II 
last three days of the session/ 1 And in ( 
where the session of the Legislature is limit- 
days, no bill, except the general ap] 
expenses oi the government, in1 her 

House of the General Asseml 

1 In Kansas a// bills must originate in 



GOVERNMENT AND ITS FUNCTIONS. 3 1 

twenty-five days of the session, shall become a 
law. 1 

Again it is very commonly provided that no bill 
shall contain more than one subject, which must be 
clearly expressed in its title ; and that whatever may 
in the bill that is not so expressed in the title 
; . Such a provision is found in the 
constitutions of Minnesota, Kansas, Maryland, Ken- 
tuck and Ohio. And under somewhat 
different forms a large number of the constitutions 
of the other Stab similar limitation. The 
provision was int I to prevent the union in one 
bill that have no proper relation to an- 
er, and thus do away with a fruitful cause of log- 
ng and corrupt legislation. 
The gislature to assume powers 

whi i not properly beloi it, and thus en- 

croach upon the tu: that rightly should be ex- 

ercised by th utive or judicial branches of the 

vernment, is i itly increasing not only in the 

national but also in the State governments." And 

1 'i A bill introduced in 

due season m 

to it af: has expired. 'J he 

bill . to incorporate the 

i him fox l 
Forthwith, 

by amendment, the bill entitled a bill to incorporate the city of Siam, h. 
after the enacting clause stricken out, and it i 

Ct, that J<»hn Doe m.iy c the Wild Cat. With this 

title and in this form i* !y amends 

the title ' Dnd with the purpose of the bill, and the law is p 

and itution at the same time saved." ( Con titutional 

p. 139, note. 
a See Webster's Speech on the Independence of the Judiciary in vol. iii of 
his works. 



32 THE AMERICAN CITIZEN'S MANUAL. 

in the matter of special or private legislation the 
evil is even more apparent in State than in national 
legislation. Such legislation is arbitrary, and is sub- 
ject to grave abuses. Fully two thirds of the meas- 
ures acted upon during each session of the Legis- 
lature is of this nature, and could be accomplished by 
general laws applying to the whole State. The 
magnitude of the evil has been recognized, and in 
all the later State constitutions limitations have been 
placed on the powers of the Legislature. And a fur- 
ther step in this direction is in making the sessions 
of the Legislature biennial instead of annual, a change 
that is being generally adopted among the States. 

As an example of the constitutional limitations on 
the Legislature, the provisions of the constitution of 
Pennsylvania (1873), which are very sweeping, may 
be cited : 

" The General Assembly shall not pass any local 
or special law — 

" Authorizing the creation, extension, or impairing 
of liens ; 

" Regulating the affairs of counties, cities, town- 
ships, wards, boroughs, or school districts ; 

" Changing the names of persons or places 

" Changing the venu in civil or criminal cases ; 

" Authorizing the laying-out, opening, altering, or 
maintaining roads, highways, streets, or alleys ; 

" Relating to ferries or bridges, or incorporating 
ferry or bridge companies, except for the erection of 



GOVERNMENT AND ITS FUNCTIONS. 33 

bridges crossing streams which form boundaries be- 
tween this and any other State ; 

" Vacating roads, town-plats, streets, or alleys ; 

" Relating to cemeteries, graveyards, or public 
grounds not of the State ; 

" Authorizing the adoption or legitimation of chil- 
dren ; 

" Locating or changing county seats, erecting new 
counties, or changing county lines ; 

" Incorporating cities, towns, or villages, or chang- 
ing their charters ; 

" For the opening and conducting of elections, or 
fixing or changing the place of voting ; 

" Granting divorces ; 

" Erecting new townships or boroughs, changing 
township lines, borough limits, or school districts ; 

" Creating offices or prescribing the powers and du- 
ties of officers in counties, cities, boroughs, town- 
ships, election or school districts ; 

" Changing the law of descent or succession ; 

" Regulating the practice or jurisdiction, or chang- 
ing the rules of evidence, in any judicial proceeding 
or inquiry, ... or providing or changing 
methods for the collection of debts, or the enforcing 
of judgments, or prescribing the effect of judicial 
sales of real estate ; 

" Regulating the fees or extending the powers and 
duties of aldermen, justices of the peace, magistrates 
or constables ; 



34 THE AMERICAN CITIZEN'S MANUAL. 

" Regulating the management of public schools, the 
building or repairing of school-houses, and the rais- 
ing of money for such purposes ; 

" Fixing the rate of interest ; 

" Affecting the estates of minors or persons under 
disability, except after due notice to all parties in in- 
terest, to be recited in the general enactment ; 

" Remitting fines, penalties, and forfeitures, or re- 
funding moneys legally paid into the treasury ; 

" Exempting property from taxation ; 

" Regulating labor, trade, mining, or manufactur- 
ing ; 

" Creating corporations, or amending, renewing, 
or extending the charters thereof; 

" Granting to any corporation, association, or indi- 
vidual any special or exclusive privilege or immunity, 
or to any corporation, association, or individual the 
right to lay down a railroad track ; 

" Nor shall the General Assembly indirectly enact 
such special or local law by the partial repeal of a 
general law, but laws repealing local or special acts 
may be passed ; 

" Nor shall any law be passed granting powers or 
privileges in any case where the granting of such 
power and privileges shall have been provided for 
by general law, nor where the courts have jurisdic- 
tion to grant the same or give the relief asked for." 
—Art. iii, § 7. 

And in § 8 of the same article it is provided that 



GOVERNMENT AND ITS FUNCTIONS 35 

w'hen a local or special bill is to be passed, for it 
would be impossible to provide by general legisla- 
tion against every possible contingency that might 
arise, due notice of the same shall be published in 
the locality where the matter or the thing to be 
effected may be situated, for at least thirty days 
prior to the introduction of the measure into the Gen- 
eral Assembly, — a very proper restriction. 

The Executive. 

In its ordinary signification the administration of 
government is limited to executive details and falls 
peculiarly within the province of the executive de- 
partment. The Legislature does not execute the 
laws, it directs what is to be done, and prescribes 
the manner of doing it, but leaves the actual per- 
formance to the executive department. As this per- 
formance requires promptness of action and single- 
ness of purpose, all the executive powers are vested 
in a single officer, — the President in the national gov- 
ernment, and the governor in the State. Both are 
elected by the people, the President indirectly, and 

2 The manner of electing the President and Vice-President is peculiar, and 
they are the only officers who hold their offices by that mode of election. 
Thus the final election is made by a number of electors chosen for that ex- 
press purpose, and forming the electoral college. The people of each State 
choose a number of electors equal to the number of Senators and Representa- 
tives to which the State is entitled, and these electors meet on a certain day 
and cast their votes. In theory each elector exercises his judgment in cast- 
ing his vote ; but under the system of parties the elector is already pledged 
to vote for the party's nominee, and the result becomes known at the general 
election when only presidential electors are supposed to be chosen. The 
meeting and voting of the electoral college has thus become an unmean- 



36 THE AMERICAN CITIZEN'S MANUAL. 

the governor directly, and both possess powers of a 
similar nature. Thus the President is the com- 
mander of the national army and navy, of the State 
militia when in actual service ; the governor is com- 
mander of the State forces when not in actual service. 
The President may, by his veto, compel the Legis- 
lature to reconsider a measure that has already passed 
both Houses ; and the State governor possesses a 
like check on the Legislature. 1 The President may 
grant pardons and reprieves for offences committed 
against the United States, except in cases of im- 
peachment ; in like manner the governor may grant 
reprieves, commutation, or pardon after conviction 
for all offences except treason and impeachment, and 
may grant such pardons, etc., on any conditions he 
sees fit to impose. The President by and with the 
advice and consent of the Senate appoints ambassa- 
dors and other public ministers and consuls, judges 
of the Supreme Court, and all other officers of the 
United States whose manner of appointment is not 
otherwise provided for, and he commissions all the 
officers of the United States ; the governor under 
the same limitations appoints all State officers whose 
appointments are not otherwise provided for. Both 
have certain powers regarding the removal of offi- 
cers and of filling such vacancies as may occur. 

ing formality, and it is doubtful if it has any effect in rendering the selection 
of a President more simple or less exposed to fraud. It is probable that be- 
fore the next presidential election some modifications may be made in the 
present system. 

1 In Rhode Island and Virginia the governor has no veto power. 



GOVERNMENT AND ITS FUNCTIONS. 37 

Both may be impeached, and both have certain 
powers over the sessions of the Legislature, such, for 
instance, as calling an extra session. 

But there are other subjects in which the powers 
of the national and State executive are different, and 
this difference arises chiefly from the sphere of action 
proper to each. Thus, the President regulates the 
relations of this country with foreign powers ; he 
may enter into treaties, whether of commerce, extra- 
dition, or for general purposes, with foreign powers ; 
and when ratified by the Senate such treaties be- 
come a part of the law of the land. All war powers 
are vested in the President, for he may in emergen- 
cies make war, although Congress alone can declare 
war. The relations with foreign powers cannot be 
exercised by the State executive, for they are essen- 
tially national relations, and affect all the States ; 
and while the governor may in case of actual in- 
vasion call out the militia and repel invasion or sup- 
press insurrection, yet his war powers are of a very 
limited character. He may do this because the 
emergency calls for prompt and decisive action ; and 
as for suppressing insurrections, that is more pro- 
perly a part of the police power of the State, and 
not a war power. 

The subjects that fall under the supervision of 
the Executive are so varied and numerous that no 
one person could ever master their details or gain 
that knowledge of them that an efficient administra- 



38 THE AMERICAN CITIZEN'S MANUAL. 

tion would demand. The real administration is, in 
the national government, divided among a number 
of departments, each embracing but a portion of the 
executive functions. Thus, whatever relates to the 
intercourse between this country and foreign nations 
is entrusted to the management of one department ; 
the care and management of revenue and expendi- 
ture accounts are given to another, and so on. 
Over each department is placed a chief, usually 
known as a secretary or commissioner, who, as a 
part of the executive department, becomes responsi- 
ble to the President for the conduct of his depart- 
ment ; and these chiefs of departments, in addi- 
tion to the duties imposed on them by Congress, 
form an advisory or privy council to the President, 
and as such constitute the Cabinet. The meetings 
of the Cabinet are secret, and no record is kept of 
their sessions. And while the President may de- 
mand the opinions of the heads of the departments 
in writing, he is not bound to adopt them. These 
chiefs of departments are subject to impeachment, 
and hold office only during the term of the President 
by whom they were appointed. 

In describing in very general terms the powers 
and functions of each department, we are in reality 
describing the functions of the executive department 
of the Federal government. When that government 
was first formed but three departments were created, 
that of foreign affairs, war, and treasury. But with 



GOVERNMENT AND ITS FUNCTIONS. 39 

the vast increase in the subjects that are brought be- 
fore the Executive, the number has been increased 
to seven, though the chiefs of but six are entitled to 
seats in the Cabinet. Further additions, such as a 
department of labor and industry, of commerce, etc., 
have been recently proposed, but it is believed that 
the present number is sufficient to insure a proper 
performance of the manifold duties belonging to the 
executive department. 

The Department of State was created by the act 
of July 2j, 1789, under the title of Department of 
Foreign Affairs, and ranks as the most important of 
the departments. It is through this department that 
all intercourse with foreign nations is held, and in 
the proper conduct of many of the delicate questions 
arising in international relations, often depends the 
question of peace or war. It negotiates all treaties, 
and the importance of this function may readily be 
seen when the number and terms of treaties are con- 
sidered. Not only are there treaties of peace, by 
which important boundaries are determined or ces- 
sions of territory made, or important rights acquired, 
but there are treaties for regulating the commercial 
intercourse of nations, for extraditing criminals, and 
for protecting the rights of subjects or citizens when 
outside of their own States, — treaties which do not 
arise from war, but the rejection of which by the 
Senate, or the infraction in any particular by either 
contracting party, may become a cause of war. In 



40 THE AMERICAN CITIZEN'S MANUAL, 

fact, in the framing of treaties the Executive may 
originate legislation, for the provisions of a treaty 
when accepted by the Senate become a part of the 
law of the land, and as such take rank with the Fed- 
eral Constitution, overriding all State legislation that 
may militate against them. These communications 
between the governments of nations pass through 
public ministers, and other public officers duly ap- 
pointed and representing their respective govern- 
ments abroad. 

In addition to the management of all foreign affairs, 
the State Department publishes all laws and resolu- 
tions of Congress, amendments to the Constitution, 
and proclamations declaring the admission of new 
States into the Union. The Secretary of State con- 
ducts the correspondence between the President and 
the chief Executive of the several States ; and he is 
the keeper of the great seal of the United States, 
and countersigns and affixes the seal to all executive 
proclamations, to various commissions, and to war- 
rants for pardon of criminals and for the extradition 
of fugitives from justice. 

Next in importance stands the Treasury Depart- 
ment, created by an act of September 2, 1789, and 
has the management of the public finances. The du- 
ties of the Secretary are of a threefold character : 
he superintends the collection of the public reve- 
nues ; he supervises the expenditure ; and he has 
the management of the public debt and the national 



GOVERNMENT AND ITS FUNCTIONS. 41 

currency, — on the proper conduct of which depends 
the public credit, which exercises such an important 
influence over the prosperity of a nation. 

But one of his most important duties is to prepare 
the estimates of the necessary expenditure of gov- 
ernment. Each department prepares, in the au- 
tumn of the year, an estimate of what amount of 
expenditure it will make during the coming year, 
and these estimates, the items of which are given in 
detail, are sent to the Secretary of the Treasury who 
submits them to Congress. In the House they are 
referred to the Committee on Appropriations, and in 
the Senate to the Committee on Finance, although 
the various estimates may be reviewed by other 
committees which supervise the several departments 
of government, such as the committees on foreign 
affairs, naval affairs, pensions, etc. The bill is 
then discussed in the Committee of the Whole 
House, in which it is subject to alteration or amend- 
ment ; and when so amended it comes before the 
House, and on being adopted is sent to the Senate 
to be discussed by that body. 1 

The Treasury Department contains a number of 
bureaus charged with important functions. In addi- 
tion to the comptrollers and auditors who govern 
the manner of disbursing the public expenditures 
authorized by law, there are a commissioner of cus- 

1 The manner of preparing and submitting the budgets of the State gov- 
ernment is essentially the same, the comptroller acting in place of the Secre- 
tary of the Treasury. 



42 THE AMERICAN CITIZEN'S MANUAL. 

toms, a commissioner of internal revenue, a treas- 
urer, a register, a comptroller of the currency, a 
director of the Mint, and a solicitor, the last-named 
being the law officer of the department. In addition 
to these officers of finance there are others belong- 
ing to branches of the public service which, though 
not pertaining to the regulation of the finances, are 
under the care of the Secretary. Thus he controls the 
erection of public buildings, the collection of com- 
mercial statistics, the marine hospital, light- houses, 
buoys, beacons, etc., etc. 

The Department of War was created by the act 
of August 7, 1789, and that of the Navy by the 
act of April 21, 1806. The duties of these depart- 
ments, which are fully apparent only in a time of 
war, are sufficiently indicated by their titles. 

The Department of the Interior is of recent 
formation, being constituted March 3, 1849, and 
has charge of functions which formerly belonged to 
other departments. Its duties are varied and im- 
portant, and are indicated by the titles of the chiefs 
of the various bureaus : 

Commissioner of Patents, 

Commissioner of Pensions, 

Commissioner of the General Land Office, 

Commissioner of Indian Affairs, 

Commissioner of Education, 

Commissioner of Railroads, 

Director of the Geological Survey, and 



GOVERNMENT AND ITS FUNCTIONS. 43 

Superintendent of the Census. 

Although a Postal administration was formed by 
the act of February 20, 1792, the Postmaster-Gen- 
eral did not take rank with the heads of the execu- 
tive departments, and not until 1825 did he become a 
member of the Cabinet. In like manner the office 
of Attorney-General was created in 1789, but it was 
not until 1870 that he became the head of the De- 
partment of Justice, and all law officers previously 
attached to the other departments were transferred, 
and placed under his supervision. His duty is to in- 
terpret the laws, and act as the legal adviser of the 
President and heads of departments, and to repre- 
sent the United States before the Supreme Court. 

The heads of these six departments form the Cab- 
inet. The seventh department is that of Agriculture, 
presided over by a commissioner, who is charged 
with duties of doubtful utility. 

There is no body corresponding to the Cabinet 
connected with the State governments. In the origi- 
nal States of the Union there formerly existed a 
council, consisting of about seven members elected 
by the Assembly, and whose duty it was to advise 
the governor on State matters. But they presided 
over no executive department, as do the members of 
the Presidents Cabinet, unless State officers were 
from their position entitled to a place in the council. 
A record of the proceedings of the council was kept, 
which still further distinguished it from the Cabinet 



44 THE AMERICAN CITIZEN'S MANUAL. 

In some States the council even exercised some ex- 
ecutive functions, as in Virginia, where it shared the 
administration of affairs with the governor. In 
Florida the chief administrative officers of the State 
still form a " Cabinet/' and assist the governor in 
his duties; but as these officers are elective, they do 
not form a Cabinet in the sense in which the 
term is jused in the national government. In Maine 
this advisory council is still maintained ; but in the 
other States it has been abolished, and its duties 
transferred to other officers. Other executive coun- 
cils are met with, such as those for revising laws, 
councils of revision, or for filling offices, councils of 
appointment, but they have never been generally em- 
ployed. 

The chief officers of the State executive are a Sec- 
retary of State, attorney-general, auditor-general, 
and treasurer, all of whom hold their office by pop- 
ular election. Other officers, such as a State sur- 
veyor-general, a State engineer, superintendent of 
education, inspectors of State prisons, and many 
others, are to be met with among the different States, 
and properly form a part of the executive branch of 
government. But it will not be necessary to describe 
in detail the functions of these officers. Moreover, 
many of the officers that are found in the minor 
divisions of the State, such as sheriffs, coroners, 
registers of wills, recorders of deeds, commis- 
sioners, treasurers, surveyors, auditors or con- 



GOVERNMENT AND ITS FUNCTIONS. 45 

trollers, clerks of the courts, district attorneys, 
and a large number of others, are properly State 
officers, charged with the performance of a part of 
the State action, and the nature of their duties is not 
altered by the fact that they are elected by the in- 
habitants of the various districts in which they per- 
form their functions. The duties of many of these 
officers will be shown when the means of protecting 
life and property, the care of the poor and insane, 
and the revenue and expenditure of government are 
treated of. The relations of the executive with the 
people are so far-reaching, and the number of differ- 
ent officers necessary to carry into effect State ac- 
tion so large, that an enumeration of the chief of 
these officials must suffice. 

The Vice-President and Lieutenant-Governor have 
no powers, and merely preside over the upper House 
in the National and State Legislatures, but cannot vote 
except when the House is equally divided. Contin- 
gencies may arise where this power of deciding a 
vote is of vast importance ; but this fact does not 
alter the general proposition that these officers are 
of very little importance. In case the chief execu- 
tive office becomes for any reason vacant, it is filled 
by one of these officers, the Vice-President in the 
National, and the Lieutenant-Governor in the State 
government. Alabama and Arkansas have no lieu- 
tenant-governor. In case the governorship becomes 
vacant, the president of the Senate, chosen by and 
from among its members, succeeds. 



46 THE AMERICAN CITIZEN'S MANUAL, 

The Judiciary. 

There is little of a political nature in the judiciary, 
and in this it differs from the executive and legis- 
lature. Its proper duty is to hear and determine 
litigated causes, to administer justice, and to inter- 
pret and enforce the law, and it must do this freed 
from the control or influence of government author- 
ity. For this reason there is as complete a separa- 
tion as possible between this branch and the co- 
ordinate branches of government, and this is especi- 
ally marked in the constitution of the Federal courts. 
Thus, no judge can occupy any other official position ; 
the judges are appointed, and hold their office dur- 
ing good behaviour ; and the salary of the judges 
cannot be diminished during their continuance in 
office. In the State judiciary the judges are, in a 
majority of the States, elected by popular vote, and 
they hold their places for terms which vary within 
wide limits. This feature will be subsequently re- 
ferred to. Judges cannot be held liable to a civil 
action or a criminal prosecution for acts done in the 
performance of their duty. The only method by 
which they may be brought to answer for miscon- 
duct is by impeachment ; however, in some States a 
judge may be removed by a concurrent vote of both 
Houses of the Legislature, but the judge against 
whom the charge is made is allowed to defend him- 
self. 

The organization and powers of the judiciary are 



GOVERNMENT AND ITS FUNCTIONS. 47 

properly matters of legal interest, and do not belong 
in a political manual. Suffice it to say that the Fed- 
eral system consists of a supreme court, sixty district 
courts, the number being subject to increase, nine 
circuit courts, 1 and a court of claims. Each court or 
class of courts has a particular class of actions to deal 
with originally, and also certain appellate jurisdiction. 
In like manner each State has a system of courts 
which extends to its smallest political divisions. In 
the Southern and some of the Western States the 
county courts possess powers respecting roads, 
bridges, ferries, public buildings, paupers, county 
officers, and county funds and taxes ; but it is more 
usual to maintain, as far as possible, a separation of 
the administrative and judicial functions, giving the 
former to the executive and confining the judiciary 
to an interpretation of the law. 

The Jury System. 

In this connection may be mentioned trial by 
jury, an institution that is expressly recognized by 
every constitution, State and national, and is justly 
regarded as one of the best securities of the rights 
and liberties of the citizen. In this the citizen per- 
sonally takes an active part in the administration of 
justice ; and he has not only the right to demand a 

1 There are in these minor judicial divisions a number of Federal officers 
such as district-attorneys, marshals, and deputy marshals, etc., for securing 
the ends of justice. The United States uses the State jails for its own 
prisoners, thus saving the expense of maintaining double establishments. 



48 THE AMERICAN CITIZEN'S MANUAL. 

trial by jury when on trial for any crime, 1 but he also 
has the right of serving on a jury in the trial of a 
fellow citizen, when called upon to do so. 

There are two classes of juries, grand jury and 
petit jury. The grand jury consists of not more than 
twenty-four or less than twelve members, the usual 
number being twenty-three, so that twelve form a 
majority, and the concurrence of that number is re- 
quired on any matter that is to be acted upon. A 
list of the freeholders or tax-payers of the county is 
prepared, and from this list the Sheriff or Marshal 
designates by lot the names of those who shall be 
summoned to serve, and when the requisite number 
is obtained a foreman is chosen. v This organization 
is called the " impanelling " of the jury. ' ■ The ses- 
sions of this jury are secret, and its duty is to exam- 
ine into charges against persons that are submitted 
to it, and after taking testimony, wholly on the 
side of the prosecution, to determine whether the 
accusations are true or false. If true it finds " a 
true bill " against the accused, and the matter then 
comes up before a court and petit jury for trial. But 
if the majority are convinced that the charges are 
groundless, the indictment is labelled " not a true 
bill," and no further proceedings are taken. While 
it is usual for the grand jury to pass upon such in- 
dictments only as are presented to it by a prosecut- 

1 An inferior class of offences which come before the lowest courts, courts 
of special sessions, and police magistrates, and offences committed in the 
army and navy are not tried by jury. 



GOVERNMENT AND ITS FUNCTIONS. 49 

ing officer of the government, it may itself originate 
prosecutions, by making a presentment or accusa- 
tion upon its own observation or knowledge. The 
grand jury is thus a sort of committee for passing 
upon the question as to whether the evidence sub- 
mitted to it is sufficient to warrant a trial of the t 
accused. 

The petit jury, whieh is composed of twelve mem- 
bers chosen in the same manner as those of the 
grand jury, has a very different function. It must 
pass upon all questions of fact that comes before 
them during a trial, the law being decided by the 
judge. And in order to secure an impartial jury the 
right of challenge is allowed ; that is, one of the par- 
ties to the suit may object # to a person serving as a 
juror on the ground that he is prejudiced, or has al- 
ready expressed an opinion on the matter in question. 
In addition, a certain number of peremptory chal- 
lenges, for which no cause need be given, are al- 
lowed, the number of such challenges varying with 
the grade of the offence, and also among the differ- 
ent States. The jury must be unanimous, or no re- 
sult can be attained, thus being distinguished from 
the grand jury, in which the decision of a majority is 
sufficient. It is an open question whether it would 
not be well to allow a majority, not a bare majority, 
but say two-thirds or three-fourths of the members, 
to decide a question. The jury acts as a check upon 
the power of the judge, and at the same time the 



SO THE AMERICAN CITIZEN'S MANUAL, 

judge limits the power of the jury in his charge, in 
which he instructs them on the law involved. 

When summoned the persons selected to serve 
must do so, unless they are excused by the judge or 
other officer. In New York City a person may be 
excused if he can show that he is necessarily absent 
from the city and will not return in time to serve, or 
that he is physically unable to serve, or that one of 
his near relatives is dead or dangerously sick. The 
following persons are exempt from jury duty : every 
person who is not at the time he is summoned pos- 
sessed in his own right or that of his wife, of real or 
personal estate of the value of $2 5o ; ministers of the 
gospel, professors and teachers in colleges or public 
schools, practising physicians, and attorneys and 
counsellors of the Supreme Court in actual practice, 
provided that any such person is not engaged in any 
other business ; every person holding office under 
the United States, the State, city, or county of New 
York, whose duties at the time shall prevent his at- 
tendance as a juror ; all persons actually engaged in 
business as pilots or engineers ; all captains and 
other officers of vessels ; all consuls of foreign na- 
tions ; all telegraphic operators ; members of the 
grand jury, and of the State militia, or citizens who 
have filled a term of service in the militia. 1 

A juror receives a salary which is usually a certain 

1 An act in relation to Jurors in the City and County of New York, passed 
May 12, 1870. 



GOVERNMENT AND ITS FUNCTIONS. 5 I 

sum for every day on which he is actually on jury 
duty. 

Territorial Government. 

The organization of the Government of a Terri- 
tory is of a provisional character, being intended 
only to exist during the time that elapses between 
the erection of the territory by Congressional enact- 
ment, and its admission into the Union as a State. 
During this period it is under the direct control of 
Congress. The chief executive office, a governor, 
is appointed by the President with the consent of 
the Senate, and holds his office for four years unless 
removed before the end of that time. He exercises 
most of the duties that belong to a governor of a 
State, but his acts are subject to the control of the 
national executive and Congress. All administrative 
and judicial officers are appointed by the President. 
The territorial Legislature is vested with certain pow- 
ers of local self-government, but Congress may so 
far legislate for the territory as to add to or subtract 
from the extent of the territory, or to extinguish the 
existing government. It is represented in Congress 
by a delegate who may take part in the discussion 
of affairs, but cannot vote. When a territory attains 
a population sufficient to entitle it to one representa- 
tive in Congress, by a special act it is allowed to 
frame a constitution, and is then admitted into the 
Union as a State. 



52 THE AMERICAN CITIZEN'S MANUAL. 

The District of Columbia is a territory, and is un- 
der the immediate government of Congress, but is 
not entitled to send a representative or delegate to 
that body. Alaska has as yet no organized govern- 
ment, but by special acts of Congress the Secreta- 
ries of War and of the Treasury exercise certain 
powers along the coast. 



CHAPTER II. 

LOCAL GOVERNMENTS. 

As the Federal Government does not under- 
take to administer matters that concern a single 
State, so within the State there exist a number of 
local governments exercising control over local mat- 
ters which pertain to a limited extent of territory. 
These governments are concerned with the regula- 
tion of counties and townships, political divisions of 
the State for convenience of government. Such 
divisions, together with others created for special 
objects, such as school districts and road districts are 
formed under general laws of the State, and do not 
require a special charter, as in the case of cities and 
towns. 

In passing from an examination of the national 
and State governments to that of counties and town- 
ships, an almost entirely different field of investiga- 
tion is entered upon. In the former there are three 
great branches of governmental action, the executive, 
the legislative, and the judicial, each presiding over 
a separate department of government, and exercis- 
ing independently the functions that properly belong 

53 



54 THE AMERICAN CITIZEN'S MANUAL. 

to it. The legislative power, moreover, stands pre- 
eminent in its action, and is in importance equal if 
not superior to the other departments. The func- 
tions of a local government are, on the contrary, al- 
most wholly of an administrative nature, and consist 
essentially in superintending the collection of taxes, 
and regulating expenditure. Moreover, all the pow- 
er possessed by such governments is granted and 
conferred upon them by the State government, and 
that, too, by express statutes. So that the officers 
in such governments are little else than agents of 
the State. They possess little discretion in the use 
of their powers, and hence there is little of real legis- 
lation in such governments. The regulation of local 
affairs is entrusted to a single board, one body, thus 
offering a complete contrast to the organization of 
the national and State Legislatures. And, besides, 
the justices of the peace, who represent the judiciary, 
possess very limited powers as compared with those 
of the State and national judiciary. So that the ex- 
ecutive predominates, and the course of action is all 
defined and limited by the State Legislature. The 
county and township are recognized by the Consti- 
tution of the State of New York and other States as 
regular subdivisions of the State for the purposes of 
government, and thus they cannot be extinguished. 
But as all grant of power is derived from the State, 
and may be altered or modified as the State wishes, 
the State may withdraw all the powers of govern- 



LOCAL GOVERNMENTS. 55 

ment they possess, and, through its Legislature or 
other appointed channels, govern the local territory 
as it governs the State at large. For this reason it 
is proper to consider these local governments not as 
separate and distinct governments, but as creatures 
and agents of the State government. 

A county is a division of the State formed for 
political convenience, and endowed with certain 
powers of government and administration over local 
affairs, but which are but a part of the general policy 
of the State. It is, moreover, a division that is formed 
by the State of its own will, and not, like municipal 
corporations, which will be treated of in this chapter, 
by the solicitation or consent of the people who in- 
habit them. Its powers are derived from the State, 
and there is a great difference in these powers among 
the different States : they generally relate, however, 
to the support of the poor, matters of county finance, 
the establishment and repair of highways, military 
organization, and especially to the general adminis- 
tration of justice. Not only are the powers of the 
county subject to the control of the State Legislat- 
ure, but its name, boundaries, and officers are also 
regulated by legislative enactment. 

The powers granted to a school district are of a 
very limited nature, and relate, as the name would 
suggest, almost wholly to the care and maintenance 
of public schools. " They have no powers derived 
from usage. They have the powers expressly grant- 



56 THE AMERICAN CITIZEN'S MANUAL, 

ed to them, and such implied powers as are neces- 
sary to enable them to perform their duties and no 
more. Among them is the power to vote money 
for specified purposes, and the power to appoint 
committees to carry their votes relative to those pur- 
poses into effect. . . . These committees are 
special agents without any general powers over the 
affairs of the district, and their powers are confined 
to a special purpose ; and no inference can be drawn 
from the general nature of their powers." * And 
the same may be said of road districts. 

A township (also called a town) is a subdivision 
of the county, and possesses certain powers of self 
government, which, like those of the county, differ 
in the various parts of the Union. Taking, how- 
ever, the county and township governments, the dif- 
ferent systems may be ranged in three classes ac- 
cording to the political division that forms the unit 
of government. These classes are called the Town- 
ship system, the County system, and the Compro- 
mise system. In the first the township is the po- 
litical unit, in the second the county, and in the third 
the powers are divided, a part being given to the 
county and a part to the township governments. A 
somewhat extended notice of these three systems 
will not be out of place, before passing to the gov- 
ernment of municipal corporations, or incorporated 
towns, villages, and cities. 

1 Harris vs. School District, 8 Foster, N. H. 58-61. 



LOCAL GOVERNMENTS. 57 

In the six New England States the town existed 
before the county or State, and originally exercised 
over very limited territories all the powers which are 
now possessed by the State. This arose from the 
manner in which they were formed. Wherever 
there was a collection of dwellings, there was a town, 
and as the number of such places increased, bound- 
aries were defined, and the township arose which 
might include a number of the original settlements 
or villages. The State was formed by a union of 
such townships, just as the federal government was 
formed by a union for certain purposes of the States. 
The township was then entitled to an independent 
representation in the lower branch of the State Leg- 
islature. Originally each town in the State was en- 
titled to such a representative \ but in order to ap- 
portion representation more strictly with population, 
Maine and Massachusetts have substituted the dis- 
trict system, which involves a union of smaller towns 
for the choice of representatives. When the State 
government was instituted the powers of these towns 
were very much curtailed by the cession of certain 
powers they had to make to it ; but the town is 
the political unit. The details of affairs of the town 
are entrusted to selectmen, 1 - the number of such vary- 

1 Selectmen appear to have been first chosen in Boston, Mass., in 1634. 
And in the following year the inhabitants of the neighboring town of 
Charlestown, ordered, that " in consideration of the great trouble and charge 
of the inhabitants of Charlestown by reason of the frequent meeting of the 
townsmen in general, and by reason of many men meeting, things were not 
so easily brought into a joint issue," eleven men should be chosen to man- 
age such business as shall concern the townsmen, the choice of officers ex- 



58 THE AMERICAN CITIZEN'S MANUAL. 

ing from three to nine, who are elected annually, 
and are merely ^superintending officers acting under 
the votes and direction of the people of the town. 
The duties of the selectmen are to register voters and 
to provide means for carrying on elections ; to es- 
tablish fire departments, lay out highways, and in 
general manage all town affairs. The more impor- 
tant of the town officers, also elected annually, are a 
town clerk, three or more assessors, three or more 
overseers of the poor, a treasurer, one or more sur- 
veyors of highways, three or more members of 
school committee, and constables who collect the 
taxes when no collectors are chosen. 

But the most distinctive feature of New England 
government is the town-meeting, which is purely 
democratic in form and in principle. Once each year, 
or oftener, the selectmen assemble all the voters of 
the town by notice, which is posted in public places 
or served upon each voter, and must be given at 
least ten days before the day fixed for the meeting. 
The object of the meeting must be clearly stated in 
the notice, so that the voter has ample opportunity 
of coming to a decision upon what is to be submitted 
to and passed upon by the meeting ; and as no busi- 
ness not mentioned in the notice can be discussed, job- 

cepted. The advantages of such a delegation of powers were soon recog- 
nized by the General Court of the State, and it was generally adopted. 
This is the germ of the system of local government in New England which 
has from time to time been modified to suit the public needs and conveni- 
ence. " The towns have been, on the one hand, separate governments, 
and, on the other, the separate constituents of a common government." 



LOCAL GOVERNMENTS, 59 

bery and hasty action are prevented. At the meeting 
the selectmen and the school committee report upon 
what has been done in the previous year, and what 
is necessary or desirable in the coming year. Every 
voter in the meeting has an equal right to approve 
or reject the propositions submitted to him, and to 
state his reasons for such action. The powers of the 
town meeting are very wide and include the regula- 
tion of many important, although only local, affairs. 
The act creating and recognizing them clearly ex- 
plains their object : " as particular towns have many 
things which concern only themselves, and the order- 
ing of their own affairs, and disposing of business in 
their own towns," it was ordered that " the freemen of 
every town, or the major part of them, shall have 
power to dispose of their own lands and woods, with 
all the privileges and appurtenances of said towns, to 
grant lots, and to make such orders as may concern 
the well-ordering of their own towns not repugnant 
to the laws and orders established by the General 
Court." The town meeting may enact by-laws and 
ordinances for the regulation of town affairs ; elect 
all town officers ; appropriate moneys for the 
support of the schools, for the maintenance and 
employment of the poor ; for laying out and re- 
pairing highways, and for all other necesary 
town charges. It is in its nature a legislative and 
deliberative assembly ; and although the township 
system has been adopted in some of the Western 



60 THE AMERICAN CITIZEN'S MANUAL. 

States, the town meeting has lost its legislative char- 
acter, and become only the machinery for electing 
town officers. It is thus deprived of one of its most 
distinctive characteristics. " A town meeting is a 
surer exponent of the will of the people than a 
legislative assembly, whether state or national. The 
nearer you come to the fountain of power, the peo- 
ple, the more clearly you perceive public sentiment, 
and learn the popular will." l 

The county in the New England States came into 
existence sometime after the formation of the town- 
ship, and is a judicial rather than a political division, 
being formed to define the jurisdiction of the courts 
of justice. In Rhode Island there are no county 
officers other than judicial ; but in other New Eng- 
land States there are county officers of administra- 
tive powers. Thus in Massachusetts there are in each 
county three county commissioners, and one county 
treasurer, all of whom are elected and hold office for 
three years, one commissioner being chosen each 
year. To this Board is entrusted the management 
of the county buildings (such as the court house, jail, 
house of correction, etc.) ; and it has power to lay 
out new highways from town to town, to license 
inn-holders and common victuallers, to estimate the 
amount of taxes necessary to meet the county charges 
(which is, however, submitted to the State Legis- 
lature for approval), to apportion the county taxes 

1 On town meetings as schools of government consult " Tocqueville's 
Democracy in America," also " Mills' Representative Government." 



LOCAL GOVERNMENTS. 6 1 

among the cities and towns of the county, to nego- 
tiate temporary loans, and to perform many other 
functions which are appropriate to the maintenance of 
county institutions. 

This system, in which the town forms the political 
unit, prevails only in the six New England States. 

In the Southern States a very different system 
prevails, in which the county possesses the political 
power ; and while the county is created by the State 
Legislature, yet its subordinate divisions are formed 
by its (the counties) own officers and possess no 
powers whatever, being merely a division for con- 
venience at elections or to mark the jurisdiction of a 
justice of a peace and constable. 1 The town, then, 
so far from being, as in New England, the political 
unit, exists only as a geographical division, with little 
or no powers of local government. The history of 
the South is the cause of this. Thus, in the early 
history of Virginia the population was widely dis- 
tributed, and the land held in large estates by a com- 
paratively small number of owners. There was 
neither the occasion nor the necessity of that self- 
government which was so early constituted in New 
England, and little attention was paid to the man- 
agement of such local matters as require regulation 
in a densely populated district. The town was un- 

1 These divisions are variously known as precincts •, (Alabama, Florida, 
Texas, etc.) ; townships (Arkansas, California, etc.) ; hundreds (Dela- 
ware) ; militia districts (Georgia) ; wards, (Louisiana) ; election districts 
(Maryland) ; supervisor's districts (Mississippi) ; and civil districts (Ten- 
nessee). The parish of Louisiana corresponds to the county in other States. 



62 THE AMERICAN' CITIZEN'S MANUAL. 

known in Virginia, and the division into counties or 
districts was made for judicial purposes ; for defining 
the jurisdiction of justice, and to facilitate the collec- 
tion of the revenues of the State. The town meet- 
ing has, therefore, no existence, and the administra- 
tion of affairs belongs to the county officers. 

As early as 1621 Commissioners of the county 
courts were appointed in Virginia to hold monthly 
courts in the more remote regions of the State, and 
in process of time the management of the fiscal and 
other matters of county administration was entrusted 
to them. In some of the States which were form- 
erly under the county system, further inroads into 
county organization were made, and some of the 
features of the township government adopted, but 
not to such an extent as to make the name of county 
system inapplicable. And as Virginia is among 
those States, it will be better to take Alabama as a 
model of the county system, for very few such modi- 
fications have been made in the organization of local 
governments in that State. The officers of the 
county are the Board of County Commissioners 
(called also the Court of County Commissioners), 
Assessor, Treasurer, Collector, Superintendent of 
Education, Apportioners of Roads, and Overseer of 
Roads. These officers are charged with the control of 
the county property, the assessment and collection of 
State and county taxes, the division of the county 
into election or other districts, the laying out and re- 



LOCAL GOVERNMENTS. 63 

pairing of roads, the construction of bridges, the care 
of the poor, the police of the county, etc., etc. The 
general control of these matters belong to the Board 
of County Commissioners, but the different functions 
are divided among the county officers, as their 
names clearly show. In some States the duties of 
the assessor are performed by the sheriff, by an 
assessor of one of the minor divisions of the county 
(of the hundred, precinct, or civil district), or a tax 
collector ; and in others — Arkansas, Oregon, and 
Texas — the taxes are even collected by the sheriff. 
The members of the Board of County Commission- 
ers are elected by the county at large, except in 
Florida, where they are appointed by the Governor, 
as are all other principal officers of the county ; the 
Assessor, Collector, and Superintendent of Educa- 
tion are also elected by the county. The Board of 
Commissioners appoint the Treasurer, although he 
is in some States appointed by the Governor, or even 
elected by the people ; three apportioners of roads, 
and an overseer of roads for each road district. 

Under such a system it will be seen that the 
greatest advantage to be derived from the township 
system of New England, the political education of 
the citizen, is wholly wanting. The citizen casts his 
vote on the day of election, but there his political 
duties begin and end, for the settlement of all 
questions of administration is left to the county offi- 
cials. 



64 THE AMERICAN CITIZEN'S MANUAL 

The county system, in various forms, exists in 
seventeen States ; viz. : Alabama, Arkansas, Califor- 
nia, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Louis- 
iana, Maryland, Mississippi, Missouri, Nebraska, 
Nevada, Oregon, South Carolina, Tennessee, and 
Texas. 

In the third system of local government, known 
as the " compromise system/' the county possesses 
wider powers than is given it in the town system, 
and the town becomes a more important political 
factor than it is in the county system. The counties 
are created by the State Legislature, and exercise 
whatever powers are granted to them by statute. 
The townships are formed by the count}' officers (in 
New Jersey by the State Legislature, an example 
that has been copied by no other State), and they 
may elect their own officers, and regulate their own 
local affairs, subject, however, to the control of the 
county. The township, then, although it has it own 
town-meeting to vote taxes and pass upon local 
affairs, does not possess the independence of the 
New England township, but is subject to regulation 
by the county, an arrangement that is unknown in 
the purely town system. " The county thus be- 
comes a more important factor in the administration 
of local affairs than in New England. Its executive 
officers are required to discharge all duties properly 
connected with the county administration, and, in 
addition, to audit the accounts of township officers 



LOCAL GOVERNMENTS. 65 

and accounts and claims against the township, and 
direct the raising of funds for their payment, to ap- 
prove of votes of the township for borrowing money 
or incurring any extraordinary expenditure, and to 
levy on the property of the township such taxes for 
township purposes as may be duly certified to them 
by the township officers. " z 

The control of county and township affairs is ex- 
ercised by a Board of Supervisors. In New York 
and some other States each town of the county elects 
one supervisor, and are thus represented as equal 
political communities. But in Pennsylvania and 
other States which have adopted her system, the 
affairs of the county are under the control of a board 
of three commissioners elected from the county at 
large. And this important distinction exists, in that 
while the supervisor in New York is both a county 
and a town officer, in Pennsylvania a county com- 
missioner has no township duties whatever. The 
other county officers are a treasurer, a clerk, a school 
commissioner, and in a few States, (Indiana, Iowa, 
Minnesota, and Ohio) an auditor. Their duties are 
sufficiently apparent from their respective titles. 

The town is under the control ot the Board of 
Supervisors, yet it has some important powers which 
are within certain limits independent powers. Thus, 
it may lay out roads within its own limits, but should 
the Town Commissioners of Highways refuse to do 

1 \ ' Statistical Atlas to Ninth Census." We have used freely the facts col- 
lected by Mr. Ga:pin in this work. 



66 THE AMERICAN CITIZEN'S MANUAL. 

this, the county Board intervenes and appoints 
special commissioners for the purpose. The town 
determines the amount of town taxes to be levied 
for town purposes, and manages its schools and 
other local affairs. But in all questions relating to 
the assessment and collection of taxes, the borrowing 
of money, etc., the approval of the Board of Super- 
visors is requisite. Thus, all votes of the town for 
borrowing money must be submitted to it ; it must 
audit all town accounts, levy all taxes, and equalize 
the assessments of the several towns in the county. 
And so far does this power extend that the Board 
may, by a two thirds vote, erect a new town or alter 
the boundaries of an existing town — a power which 
in the town system belongs exclusively to the Legis- 
lature. The principal officers of the town are 
elected, and comprise a supervisor, town clerk, 
three assessors, a collector, and a commissioner of 
highways ; but if the town so elect, it may have three 
commissioners of highways. 

The compromise system is used in the following 
States, although it presents many modifications in 
some of its features; Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kan- 
sas, Michigan, Minnesota, New Jersey, New York, 
North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Virginia, West 
Virginia, and Wisconsin. 

Municipal Corporations. 
The forms of local government which have just 



LOCAL GOVERNMENTS, 6j 

been briefly described apply, however, more espe- 
cially to rural districts where the population is small 
and scattered, and the matters to be regulated few in 
number. 

"There, every man who would be put for- 
ward for election as a ' selectman ' or ' supervi- 
sor,' or on the various schools or other boards, is 
known through the township ; the duties are -dis- 
charged for a small salary or gratuitously ; the spirit 
of the place demands economy in all outlays ; there 
are generally no large funds to be kept or embez- 
zled ; it is a matter of prime interest that taxes shall 
be brought down to as low a point as possible ; the 
police, the school arrangements, provision for the 
poor, for roads and bridges, are on a settled system ; 
so that the town goes on from year to year with lit- 
tle change." x 

In a densely populated district, the need for com- 
bined action on the part of the inhabitants is much 
more imperative, and the interest thus created so 
different from those of a rural district, that other and 
more extensive administrative systems become 
necessary, and to this fact municipal corporations 
owe their existence. " It is not the name of the 
corporate form which gives a city its character as 
such ; but the fact that its inhabitants live closely to- 
gether — in other words that the population is urban 
as distinguished from rural. Whenever the pursuits 

1 Woolsey, "Political Science/' vol. ii, p. 383. 



68 THE AMERICAN CITIZEN'S MANUAL. 

of agriculture are displaced by those of manufactures, 
trade or commerce, dense populations spring up, 
which require local governments radically different 
from those of the sparsely settled rural districts. The 
distinctions between such populations are obvious ; 
but the consequences of such distinctions are, in gen- 
eral, not sufficiently apprehended. Wherever a few 
thousand people come, from whatever cause, to dwell 
in close proximity to each other, the necessity arises 
for a local government framed to suit the needs of a 
compact population. The country highways do not 
suffice ; streets are needed ; cleanliness, comfort and 
health are to be attended to, the streets must be 
regulated, paved, and cleaned ; gutters, sidewalks, 
and sewers must be constructed. A conflagration 
would bring a common peril ; and common provision 
must be made for the prevention of fires. Dense 
populations stimulate vice, immorality, and conse- 
quent turbulence and crime, and provision must be 
made for a suitable police. All these interests are 
peculiar to such a population, and the necessary ex- 
pense must be defrayed by contributions levied ex- 
clusively within the area inhabited by it. Wher- 
ever such a population exists, though it may be very 
small, a government in the nature of a city govern- 
ment is required." x 

A municipal corporation is " established by law, 

lM Report of the Commission to Devise a Plan for the Government of 
Cities in the State of New York, 1877/' p. 23. 



LOCAL GOVERNMENTS. 69 

to share in the civil government of the county, but 
chiefly to regulate and administer the local or inter- 
nal affairs of the city, town, or district which is incor- 
porated " ; and it has been been very appropriately 
described to be " an investing the people of a place 
with the local government thereof/ ' These corpora- 
tions are created by and derive all their powers from 
the State Legislature, and in articles of incorpora- 
tion, or charter, these powers are described and de- 
fined, and the form of government laid down. In 
granting such a charter the Legislature may, but 
need not, obtain the consent of the people of the 
locality to be affected, and, when granted, these 
instruments are subject to the control of the Legis- 
lature. " Public or municipal corporations are estab- 
lished for the local government of towns or particu- 
lar districts. The special powers conferred upon 
them are not vested rights as against the States ; 
but, being wholly political, exist only during the 
will of the general Legislature ; otherwise there 
would be numberless petty governments existing 
within the State and forming part of it, but indepen- 
dent of the control of the sovereign power. Such 
powers may at any time be repealed or abrogated 
by the Legislature, either by a general law operating 
upon the whole State or by a special act altering the 
powers of the corporation. " x 

Such municipal corporations may be created un- 
quoted in Dillon's "Municipal Corporations," vol. i, p. 139, where 
many other like decisions of the courts are cited. 



70 THE AMERICAN CITIZEN'S MANUAL. 

der general laws which apply equally to all, or may 
each require a special act of incorporation from the 
Legislature. In Ohio, under a general law, all such 
corporations are organized into cities or incorporated 
villages. An incorporated village is governed by 
one mayor, one recorder, and five trustees elected 
annually ; and these officers together constitute the 
village council. The powers of a city government 
are vested in a mayor, a board of trustees composed 
of two members from each ward (the political divis- 
ions of the city), and such other officers as may be 
created by the act of incorporation, and which will 
vary with the size, situation, and general wants of 
the locality to be governed. The mayor and trus- 
tees constitute the city council. In the New Eng- 
land States, however, there exist no general laws 
for creating municipal corporations, and this is done 
by granting to the towns special charters by which 
their powers are widened and the management of 
municipal affairs is transferred from the town meet- 
ing and selectmen to the mayor and council. And 
it is a curious fact that no city was incorporated in 
Massachusetts until 1821, the town government ex- 
isting until that time even in Boston. The cause of 
a change from a town to a city government at that 
time is thus given by Mr. Quincy in his Municipal 
History of Boston, and it is quoted here because it 
clearly shows how inapplicable the town system is for 
the government of crowded districts : " In 1 821, the 



LOCAL GOVERNMENTS. 7 1 

impracticability of conducting the municipal interests 
of the place, under the form of town government, be- 
came apparent to the inhabitants. With a population 
upward of forty thousand, and with seven thousand 
qualified voters, it was evidently impossible calmly to 
deliberate and act. When a town meeting was held 
on any exciting subject, in Faneuil Hall, those only 
who obtained places near the moderator could even 
hear the discussion. A few busy or interested in- 
dividuals easily obtained the management of the 
most important affairs, in an assembly in which 
the greater number could have neither voice nor 
hearing. When the subject was not generally ex- 
citing, town meetings were usually composed of se- 
lectmen, the town officers, and thirty or forty inhab- 
itants. Those who thus came were, for the most 
part, drawn to it from some official duty or private 
interest, which when performed or obtained, they 
generally troubled themselves but little, or not at all 
about the other business of the meeting. In as- 
semblies thus composed, by-laws were passed, taxes 
to the amount of one hundred or one hundred and 
fifty thousand dollars, voted, on statements often 
general in their nature, and on reports, as it respects 
the majority of voters present, taken upon trust, and 
which no one had carefully considered except, per- 
haps, the chairman. In the constitution of the town 
government, there had resulted in the course of 
time, from exigency or necessity, a complexity little 



72 THE AMERICAN CITIZEN'S MANUAL, 

adapted to produce harmony in action, and an irre- 
sponsibility irreconcilable with a wise and efficient 
conduct of its affairs. On the agents of the town 
there was no direct check or control ; no pledge for 
fidelity but their own honor and sense of character." 
(p. 28.) In 1822 the city of Boston was established 
and a charter issued to it. 

In Massachusetts, when a town has a population 
of twelve thousand, a charter may, at the request of 
its inhabitants, be granted to it, and it then assumes 
the government of a city, electing a mayor, a board 
of aldermen, and a common council, together with 
whatever other officers are provided for by the 
charter. In Vermont, villages containing more than 
thirty houses may be incorporated by the selectmen 
of the town, but the officers are not such as are re- 
quired by a city, but are a clerk, five trustees, a 
collector and a treasurer ; and its powers extend 
over such matters as relate to sidewalks, nuisances, 
estrays, police, etc. Another local division in this 
State is the " fire district," which is formed by the 
selectmen and possesses certain powers of self-gov- 
ernment. Its officers are a clerk, a prudential com- 
mittee of three, a collector and a treasurer. In 
Connecticut, cities are formed by special charters ; 
and in the remaining New England States no 
regular form of incorporation is adopted, but under 
certain circumstances the local divisions possess 
the right to manage their own affairs, and particu- 



LOCAL GOVERNMENTS. 73 

larly as regards the assessment and collection of 
taxes. 

In Alabama municipal corporations obtain their 
powers under a general law, the charter being issued 
by a Judge of Probate ; although the more general 
method is to obtain a special charter from the Legis- 
lature. The government of these corporations con- 
sists of an Intendant, and from five to nine council- 
lors, elected annually. Their powers extend over 
the police, and, within defined limits, taxation. 

Let us examine more closely the organization and 
functions of a city government. And first as to its 
functions : 

These must be regarded as ranging themselves 
into two classes, between which there exists an im- 
portant distinction, and one that is frequently over- 
looked. Primarily, Judge Cooley says, the duties of 
municipal corporations are public, and their powers 
governmental. " They are created for convenience, 
expediency, and economy in government, and, in 
their public capacity, are and must be at all times 
subject to the control of the State which has impart- 
ed to them life, and may at any time deprive them 
of it. But they have or may have another side, in 
respect to which the control is in reason, at least, not 
so extensive. They may be endowed with peculiar 
powers and capacities for the benefit and conven- 
ience of their own citizens, and in the exercise of 
which they seem not to differ in any substantial de- 



74 THE AMERICAN CITIZEN'S MANUAL. 

gree from the private corporations which the State 
charters. They have thus their public or political 
character, in which they exercise a part of the sov- 
ereign power of the State for governmental pur- 
poses, and they have their private character in which, 
for the benefit or convenience of their own citizens, 
they exercise powers not of a governmental nature, 
and in which the State at large has only an inciden- 
tal concern, as it may have with the action of private 
corporations. It may not be possible to draw the 
exact line between the two, but provisions for local 
conveniences for the citizens, like water, light, public 
grounds for recreation, and the like, are manifestly 
matters which are not provided for by municipal 
corporations in their political or governmental ca- 
pacity, but in that quasi private capacity in which they 
act for the benefit of their corporators exclusive!}'. 
In their public political capacity they have no dis- 
cretion but to act as the State which creates them 
shall, within constitutional limits, command, and the 
good government of the State requires that the 
power should at all times be ample to compel obe- 
dience, and that it should be capable of being 
promptly and efficiently exercised. In the capacity 
in which they act for the benefit of their corporators 
merely, there would seem to be no sufficient reason 
for a power in the State to make them move and act 
at its will, any more than in the case of any private 
corporation. With ample authority in the State to 



LOCAL GOVERNMENTS. 75 

mould, measure, and limit their powers at discretion, 
and to prevent any abuse thereof, their action within 
the prescribed limits, in matters of importance to 
themselves only, it would naturally be supposed 
should be left to the judgment of their citizens and 
of their chosen officers." 

Moreover, when the functions of a city govern- 
ment are thus divided into what may be called func- 
tions oi 2l political ox public and of a private charac- 
ter, it will be seen that the number of the latter 
exceeds that of the former. Thus the administration 
of justice, the preservation of the peace, and the like 
are matters of public concern. But to provide for 
systems of drainage, ventilation, cleanliness, and loco- 
motion ; to carry out police regulations regarding 
nuisances, the preservation of health, the prevention 
of fires, the storing and use of dangerous articles, 
the establishment and control of markets, wharves, 
etc. ; to create parks, lay out, open, or pave streets, 
and to control amusements ; and to secure the safety 
of buildings, these clearly affect only the locality, 
and are more matters of business than statesman- 
ship. The chief functions of a city government are 
merely executive and ministerial, and in which poli- 
tics have little or no place. 1 

1 " In the most completely developed municipality these powers [entrusted 
by the State to local governments], embrace the care of police, health, 
schools, street-cleaning, prevention of fires, supplying water and gas, and 
similar matters, most conveniently attended to in partnership by persons 
living together in a dense community, and the expenditure and taxation 



76 THE AMERICAN CITIZEN'S MANUAL. 

The mayor or chiet executive officer of the city, 
and the comptroller, who has charge of the finances 
of the city, hold their office by election, as it was 
thought that if the mayor could appoint the comp- 
troller, he would possess too large powers. The 
traditions of State and National Governments are 
continued in an elective common council, which is 
generally, but not always, composed of two bodies. 
In this State (New York), under the Montgomery 
charter (1730), the Mayor was appointed by the 
Governor of the Province, and held office for one 
year. When the Constitution of 1777 was framed, 
his appointment was transferred from the governor, 
and vested in a State council of appointment, which 
was composed of the Governor together with one 
Senator from each great district of the State. By 
the amended charter of 1821, the mayors of all the 
cities in the State were appointed annually by the 
common councils of their respective cities, and it was 
not until 1833 that the mayor was chosen by the 
electors of the city ; and even then this power was 
confined to New York City, the constitutional pro- 
vision of 1 82 1 still applying to all other cities of the 

necessary for those objects. The rights of persons, property, and the ju- 
dicial systems instituted for their preservation — general legislation — govern- 
ment in its proper sense ; these are vast domains which the functions of 
municipal corporations and municipal officers do not touch." Governor Til- 
den's Message, 1875. 

But few city governments, however, undertake to supply the city 
with gas, that privilege being generally granted to a private corpora- 
tion. 



LOCAL GOVERNMENTS, 77 

State. The aldermen have been elected since the 
adoption of the Montgomery charter. 

The mayor of a city is an administrative officer, to 
see that municipal ordinances are executed, and to 
preside at corporate meetings. In some instances 
he is even expressly declared to be a member of the 
city council, and presides over its meetings. But in 
New York, the mayor is not a member of the com- 
mon council, although up to the year i85/, he was 
ex-officio a member of the Board of Supervisors. 
The mayor may be impeached. 1 

But as the executive duties of the mayor are beyond 
the power of one man to perform, they are divided 
and distributed among other executive officers, 
boards, or commissions. Thus, according to the 
charter of 1870 these various co-ordinate city depart- 
ments were : — a finance department, law department, 
police department, department of public works, de- 
partment of public charities and corrections, fire 
department, health department, department of public 
parks, department of buildings, and department of 
docks ; to which was subsequently added a board of 
street opening. The heads of these departments, 
except of the departments of finance and law, were 
appointed by the mayor, as they properly should be. 

1 In the [N. Y.] Constitutional Convention of 1867-68, a report on the 
government of cities was made, in which it was proposed that the board of 
aldermen and comptroller should be elected by tax-paying voters, possessing 
property to the value of at least one thousand dollars ; and that the mayor 
and councilmen should be elected by the whole body of electors. This 
would result in a mixed government, representing different constituencies. 



78 THE AMERICAN CITIZEN'S MANUAL. 

In all cities there are not the same necessities for 
regulation and supervision, due either to their geo- 
graphical situation or economic condition. Some 
may require a less number of departments, others a 
greater ; but such an enumeration strikingly shows 
to what vast proportion city government has at- 
tained, and how complex a problem it is to secure 
the proper checks and balances in such a system. 

It would be needless to recite the various duties 
of these departments, for their titles will give a 
general idea of their functions ; and as they perform 
their duties under the direct control of the common 
council, and the indirect control of the State Leg- 
islature, these powers differ among the different 
States. They are, however, the machinery for 
carrying into effect the laws of State and the muni- 
cipal ordinances and regulations. 

Exactly what extent of power the common coun- 
cil possesses depends upon the charter granted to 
the city. The object is to secure local government, 
and therefore such powers must be limited to the 
regulation of local concerns. If it is found neces- 
sary, they can be extended or limited by the State 
Legislature as it sees fit. It will be instructive to 
enumerate what powers were granted to the Com- 
mon Council of the City of New York by the charter 
of 1870, because a general idea of the extent of reg- 
ulation required will be thus obtained, and it will 
also serve to place in a clear light what has already 



LOCAL GOVERNMENTS. 79 

been touched upon, namely, that "the larger number 
of the functions of a city government are of a minis- 
terial and administrative character : 

" To regulate traffic and sales in the streets, high- 
ways, roads, and public places ; to regulate the use 
of streets, highways, roads, and public places by foot 
passengers, vehicles, railways, and locomotives ; to 
regulate the use of sidewalks, building-fronts, and 
house-fronts within the stoop lines ; to prevent and 
remove encroachments upon and obstructions to the 
streets, highways, roads, and public places ; to regu- 
late the opening of street surfaces, the laying of gas 
or water mains, the building and repairing of sew- 
ers, and erecting gas-lights ; to regulate the number- 
ing of the houses and lots in the streets and avenues, 
and the naming of the streets, avenues, and public 
places ; to regulate and prevent the throwing or de- 
positing of ashes, offal, dirt, or garbage in the streets ; 
to regulate the cleaning of the streets, sidewalks, 
and gutters, and removing, ice, hail, and snow from 
them ; to regulate the use of the streets and side- 
walks for signs, sign-posts, awnings, awning-posts, 
and horse-troughs ; to provide for and regulate street 
pavements, cross-walks, curb-stones, gutter-stones, 
and sidewalks ; to regulate public cries, advertising 
noises, and ringing bells in the streets ; in regard to 
the relation between all the officers and employes 
of the corporation, in respect to each other, the cor- 
poration and the people ; in relation to street beg- 



80 THE AMERICAN CITIZEN'S MANUAL. 

gars, vagrants, and mendicants ; in relation to the 
use of guns, pistols, fire-arms, fire-crackers, fire- 
works, and detonating works of all descriptions 
within the city ; in relation to intoxication, fighting, 
and quarrelling in the streets ; in relation to places 
of amusement ; in relation to exhibiting or carrying 
banners, placards, or flags in or across the streets or 
from houses ; in relation to the exhibition of adver- 
tisements or hand-bills along the streets ; in relation 
to the construction, repairs, and use of vaults, cis- 
terns, areas, hydrants, pumps, and sewers ; in rela- 
tion to partition fences and walls ; in relation to the 
construction, repair, care, and use of markets ; in re- 
lation to the licensing and business of public cartmen, 
truckmen, hackmen, cabmen, expressmen, boatmen, 
pawnbrokers, junk dealers, hawkers, peddlars, and 
venders ; in relation to the inspection, weighing, and 
measuring of fire-wood, coal, hay and straw, and the 
cartage of the same ; in relation to the mode and 
manner of suing for, collecting, and disposing of the 
penalties provided for a violation of all ordinances ; 
and for carrying into effect and enforcing any of the 
powers, privileges, and rights at any time granted 
and bestowed upon or possessed by the said corpo- 
ration." 

It will at once be seen that these are all matters 
of local concern and should be under local control 
only. To believe that the State government could 
properly assume to regulate such affairs, would show 



LOCAL GOVERNMENTS. 8 1 

an ignorance of the proper functions of the two 
classes of governments, State and local. And yet 
New York City, in many important particulars, does 
not enjoy local self-government. On one pretext 
or another the State Legislature has assumed powers 
which it cannot perform efficiently, or as efficiently 
as a properly constituted city government would. 
And this interference on the part of the Legisture 
has become a crying evil, and is an outcome of 
special Legislation. Thus in New York City the 
powers and duties of the city officials are varied at 
will by the State Legislature, and their salaries fixed 
and altered at pleasure. If an additional free bath 
is needed, or a new street is to be opened, permis- 
sion must first be secured from the State Legisture. 
The city cannot borrow a dollar, levy a local tax, 1 or 
loan its credit for a public work, if every citizen 
desired it, except by permission of the Legislature ; 
and yet the Legislature has the power to impose 
any debt, to direct the erection of any public work, 
and to compel the city to issue its bonds to pay for 
it, although every man in the city were against it. 

There are thus two evils to be guarded against in 
organizing city governments. That some control 
over it by the State Legislature is necessary, can 
not be denied ; but in this State at least, and espe- 
cially with respect to New York City, the Legislat- 
ure interferes too much in the regulation of what is 

i i All mention of taxation is here omitted, as it will be fully treated in the 
second part, when the powers of government are considered. 



32 THE AMERICAN CITIZEN'S MANUAL. 

purely of a local character. The remedy that is pro- 
posed for this condition of things, is to restrict the 
powers of the State Legislature, by preventing it from 
tinkering with city charters through special legisla- 
tion. There is no reason why all the cities in the 
State should not be organized under a general law, 
such as is in force in many of the States ; and if 
special privileges or regulations are required, let it 
be done at the instance of a majority of the inhabi- 
tants of the city, 1 who are the best judges of their 
own interests. 

The form such a restriction would take is em- 
bodied in an amendment to the State Constitution, 
which has twice been proposed in this State, but has 
never reached the people. " It shall be the duty of 
the Legislature to provide for the organization of 
cities and incorporated villages, and to restrict their 
power of taxation, assessment, borrowing money, 
contracting bills, and loaning their credit, so as to 
prevent abuses in assessments and in contracting 
debt by such municipal corporations, by the passage 
of general laws only, applicable alike to all incor- 
porated cities ; and the Legislature shall not pass any 
special or local bill affecting the local or municipal 
government of a city, nor any general bill providing 
for the organization of cities under local or municipal 
governments other than republican in form ; nor 

1 By a majority of the inhabitants is here meant a majority of those who 
have a real interest in the government of the city, and who would naturally 
be those who owned property in the city. 



LOCAL GOVERNMENTS, 83 

shall the Legislature provide for the filling of any 
municipal office now existing or hereafter to be 
created, otherwise than by popular election or by 
appointment of the mayor with or without confirma- 
tion of the highest Legislative branch of the muni- 
cipal government ; except that clerks and subordi- 
nates of departments may be appointed by the heads 
of such departments. The people of every city shall 
have power to organize their own local and muni- 
cipal government and to administer the same for 
local and municipal purposes, subject only to such 
general laws as the Legislature may enact, provided 
such local government shall be republican in form. 
No city shall increase its permanent debt or raise 
the rate of taxation above that prevailing at the time 
of the adoption of this amendment, or undertake 
new public works, or direct public funds into new 
channels of expenditure, or issue its bonds other 
than revenue bonds, until the act authorizing the 
same shall have been published for at least three 
months, and thereafter submitted to the people of 
the city at a general election, and have received a 
majority of all the votes cast for and against it at such 
election." 



CHAPTER III. 

THE ELECTORATE. 

As all the public business is transacted by certain 
agents who act for the people, the latter are directly 
engaged in the appointment of these agents or offi- 
cers. In some cases, also, the people are called 
upon to take a direct part in legislation, as, for in- 
stance, in the case of an amendment to the State 
constitution, when the question of its acceptance or 
rejection must be submitted to and passed upon 
by the people. The right of expressing their wish 
in such cases is known as the right of suffrage, and 
in its exercise each individual acts for himself; and it 
is the largest aggregate of individual opinions tend- 
ing in one way that forms a majority of the people, 
and, under the present system in this country, de- 
cides the question. It should be remembered that 
all the forms and processes by which the exercise of 
the suffrage is surrounded, are to secure an honest 
and unbiased opinion from each one who casts a 
vote, without the mediation of any representative. 
Acting, then, for himself, each voter is responsible 
for the use he makes of this right of suffrage, the 

84 



THE ELECTORATE. 85 

most important duty of a citizen. By this means not 
only does he appoint the agents to carry out State 
action, but he may also call to account those who do 
not properly perform the public duties which are 
imposed on them by virtue of their office. If the rep- 
resentative has not proved true to his trust, or if the 
elected officer of the State has abused the powers 
entrusted to him, it is by electing a new representa- 
tive or officer that the people may express their 
disapprobation. If it is sought to insert into the 
State constitution a provision that is hostile to the 
general good, the people, by their vote, may pre- 
vent such an abuse of legislative power. The effi- 
ciency and excellence of the government depend 
upon the character of the officials who are delegated 
to exercise its functions, and in the appointment of 
these officers the citizen exercises the highest privi- 
lege that belongs to him, and one that distinguishes 
him from a mere subject by permitting him to take 
part in the government. Much, then, depends upon 
the proper organization and the intelligent exercise 
of this right of suffrage. 

Qualifications of Electors. 

The right of suffrage is defined and controlled by 
the State itself, and the only limitation on the action 
of the States by the Federal government is con- 
tained in the XVth Amendment to the Constitution, 
that "the right of citizens of the United States 



86 THE AMERICAN CITIZEN'S MANUAL. 

to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the 
United States or by any State on account of 
race, color, or previous condition of servitude/' 
Each State may, subject to this limitation, determine 
the qualifications of its voters, for the Constitution 
of the United States has not conferred the right 
of suffrage upon any one, and the United States has 
no voters of its own. In the case of Representa- 
tives and Presidential electors, which are the only 
Federal officers chosen by popular vote, the qualifi- 
cations of the electors are determined by the local 
or State law. The electors for Representatives in 
each State " shall have the qualifications required 
for electors of the most numerous branch of the 
State Legislature " ; and each State shall appoint 
Presidential electors " in such manner as the Legis- 
lature thereof may direct. ,, 

Where the qualifications of electors are defined 
by the State constitution, no additional qualifications 
can be required by the State Legislature ; this, how- 
ever, does not prevent the passage of such measures 
as are necessary to give effect to the constitutional 
provisions. But if the Constitution should require 
of the voter a certain age, or residence, and the 
Legislature should pass a law requiring a property 
qualification, it would exceed its powers and the law 
would be unconstitutional. 

As the qualifications of electors are determined 
by each State for itself, there are no uniform or gen- 



THE ELECTORATE, 8/ 

eral rules common to all. The following are, how- 
ever, required by all the States : — citizenship, either 
by birth or naturalization ; residence for a given 
period in State or voting district ; and a certain age 
(2 1 years). The period of residence required varies 
greatly among the States, and such a qualification is 
demanded not only for the State, but for the county, 
township or district. Thus in Pennsylvania the 
elector must have resided in the State for one year, 
and in the election district where he offers to vote, 
at least two months immediately preceding the elec- 
tion. And it follows from this that the party must 
be a resident within the district where he votes ; 
that is, if a State officer is to be elected the voter 
must be a resident of the State ; and if a county, 
city, or township officer, he must reside within such 
county, city, or township. The object of this pro- 
vision is to prevent fraudulent voting, as it compels 
a man to cast his vote where he is known, and it 
prevents the moving of large bodies of voters from 
one district to another just before an election in 
order to carry a doubtful district, as was the case 
before restrictions were laid on the practice. 

There are other qualifications of a special nature 
required by some of the States, such as the pay- 
ment of taxes (Pa.), ability to read (Conn, and 
Mass.), a proper registration, etc. Formerly the 
number of such requirements was large, and in- 
cluded such as a property qualification, militia ser- 



88 THE AMERICAN CITIZEN'S MANUAL. 

vice, white color, etc., etc., but the tendency is to sim- 
plify the list, and reduce it to as small a number as 
will be consistent with the purity of elections. 

Not only are qualifications defined, but certain 
classes of the community are for reasons of public 
policy, temporarily or permanently debarred from 
the right of suffrage. Universal suffrage does not, 
and never has existed. Thus infants, idiots, and 
lunatics are excluded because they are incapable of 
exercising the right of suffrage intelligently. But 
when an infant becomes of age, or a lunatic regains 
his full reason, the cause of the exclusion no longer 
exists, and they are then entitled to the full privi- 
leges of citizenship. Idiots and lunatics are expressly 
excluded from the right to vote by the constitutions 
of Delaware, Iowa, Kansas, Maryland, Minnesota, 
Nevada, New Jersey, Ohio, Oregon, Rhode Island, 
West Virginia, and Wisconsin. The exclusion of 
paupers rests upon a very different reason, for there 
is no lack of intelligence. A pauper is dependent 
upon the bounty of the State for his subsistence ; 
and as he does nothing for the community, but is 
on the other hand a burden and a charge to it, he is 
very properly excluded from a share in the govern- 
ment. This has been called a harsh and cruel doc- 
trine, and has but slowly been adopted among the 
States. Thus there was a time when the inmates of 
public almshouses were allowed to leave the institu- 
tion on the day of election and cast their votes. And 



THE ELECTORA TE. 89 

in 1842-6 the almshouses formed an important factor 
in the politics of the State of New York, for the 
paupers were sent out to vote by the party in power, 
and were threatened with a loss of support unless 
they voted as directed, and the number was such as 
to turn the scale in the districts in which they voted. 
This abuse of power was too flagrant to be long 
endured, and it is now impossible. Paupers are 
excluded in New York, California, Louisiana, Maine, 
Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New Jersey, Rhode 
Island, South Carolina, and West Virginia. Per- 
sons under guardianship are excluded in Kansas, 
Maine, Massachusetts, Minnesota and Wisconsin. 

The exclusion of women from the right of suffrage 
is general, it being limited in nearly all the States to 
male citizens. And in so doing it has been decided 
that no violence has been done to the XlVth 
Amendment to the Federal Constitution, which 
provides that " no State shall make or enforce any 
law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities 
of citizens of the United States." In New Jersey it 
would appear that women were at one time allowed 
to vote. The constitution of that State, framed in 
1776, permitted all inhabitants of a certain age, 
residence, and property to vote. And in an act to 
regulate elections, passed in 1793, occurs a provision 
that " every voter shall openly, and in full view, de- 
posit his or her ballot, which shall be a single written 
ticket containing the names of the persons for whom 



go THE AMERICAN CITIZEN'S MANUAL. 

he or she votes." This privilege was abolished in 
1807, and it does not appear that any other State 
ever allowed it. Of the justice and expediency of 
this exclusion this is no place to speak. 1 

Having thus determined what qualifications are 
required of the voter, and what classes of the com- 
munity are denied the right of voting, the manner 
of electing officers must be considered. This proc- 
ess is made up of two series of acts, the one series 
leading up to the nomination of the officer, by which 
he is proposed to the voters for the office to be 
filled, and the other series leading up to the election, 
or his acceptance or rejection by the voters. These 
two series of acts are distinguished in this particular, 
that while the nomination of officers is not regulated 
and controlled by legislation, being planned and per- 
formed by political parties as voluntary acts, without 
any sanction of law, the election, or second series, is 
a matter for government interference, and every 
step is clearly defined by law. Moreover, the series 
of acts which result in the nomination is performed 
as many different times as there are political parties 
in the field. Thus, if only the more important par- 
ties are considered, the Republican and the Demo- 
cratic, each one must offer a nominee or candidate 
for the office to be filled, and, therefore each one 
must separately perform all the preliminaries neces- 

1 In the city of Boston women may vote for member of school commit- 
tees, if they possess the requisite qualifications. In many cities they may 
serve on the local boards, such as those of charities, education, etc., etc. 



THE ELECTORATE. 9 1 

sary to make such a nomination. An election, 
however, is but a single act, and merely decides 
among the candidates named by the various parties 
for the office ; it is performed but once, and is sub- 
ject to regulation by the government and not by 
political parties. 

The Nominations. 

All nominations are made by the qualified voters 
acting directly in caucus or primary meeting, or in- 
directly through delegates in conventions. It is 
taken for granted that the people are desirous of 
filling the offices of State with men who are capable 
of performing the duties that belong to those offices, 
faithfully and honestly. What are the means by 
which such persons may be agreed upon ? In every 
political division of the country there are members 
of at least two different parties, having different ideas 
on government and the manner in which it should 
be conducted, and between which there is a contest 
for the possession of the government, a contest which 
is, however, carried on by legal methods, and is de- 
cided by the will of the majority of the voters in a 
district. Moreover, as each party has some organi- 
zation by which its action may be guided, and a 
well-defined policy, in casting their votes for the 
candidates for office the voters are really determin- 
ing the policy by which the affairs of government 
should be performed, because the candidate is sup- 



92 THE AMERICAN CITIZEN'S MANUAL. 

posed to represent and embody, as it were, such a 
policy. It may occur, and in fact often does occur, 
that a party may present its candidates with no defi- 
nite principles for support, and in such cases the 
contest degenerates into a mere scramble for office, 
and this evil is more common in local governments, 
where the leading questions are considered of minor 
importance, and enlist to a less degree the interest of 
the people than do the State and Federal questions. 
The organization of parties extends to the smallest 
political division of the country. 1 When an office is 
to be filled, or when a political contest is about to be 
held a call is issued to the members of one politi- 
cal party in the election district to meet at a specified 
time and place for the purpose of nominating candi- 
dates or choosing delegates to conventions. This 
implies some organization, for the voters in the party 
must be known, although the mere statement of a 
person who attends such a meeting that he is a 
member of the party, is accepted. And the need 
of such organization becomes the greater in propor- 
tion to the populousness of a district. Thus in a rural 

Xii Party organizations and machinery consist of national, State, county, 
city, ward, and township committees, and committees for each congressional 
district for each political party and township, ward, and city meetings, 
county, State, district and national conventions for making nominations, 
discussing political questions, adopting resolutions, party creeds, and plat- 
forms, and appointing committees for the succeeding year or term. The 
committees call the meeting and conventions, provide for holding them, pro- 
cure and disseminate documents, addresses, political tracts, and other infor- 
mation among the people ; procure and distribute tickets at the polls, and 
do various other things to obtain votes and carry elections, some of which 
honest men will do, and some of which they will not do." — Seaman's 
" American System of Government." 



THE ELECTORATE. 93 

population the voters know one another and in gen- 
eral know the political standing of each inhabitant of 
a district. But in a city the opportunity for fraud 
and deception is greatly increased because such 
knowledge is impossible ; and this has necessitated a 
more complete organization of party forces. Thus a 
city is divided into a large number of voting districts, 
and in each district exists an association of the party. 
A meeting of such an association is known as a 
" caucus " or primary meeting, and has become an 
indispensable adjunct to party government, In rural 
districts the caucus is nothing but the town meeting 
called together for political and not administrative 
purposes. Such a call is posted in some conspicu- 
ous position in the town, before the store or at the 
cross-roads, but the local newspapers have now be- 
come the most effective means of making known 
such a meeting. 

In the cities the caucus is called together by reg- 
ularly appointed committees, for otherwise any num- 
ber of such meetings could be convened by irrespon- 
sible persons, each one claiming to be the " regular " 
caucus, and thus endless confusion would result. The 
members of the committees thus appointed hold from 
year to year, and as they are frequently reappointed, 
they come naturally into some special knowledge of 
the politics and politicians of their districts and are 
apt to obtain an undue political influence and control 
of the political mechanism. 



94 THE AMERICAN CITIZEN'S MANUAL. 

When assembled, the meeting is conducted ac- 
cording to such rules as govern the proceedings of 
a Legislature ; a presiding officer and a Secretary 
are chosen, and the objects of the meeting are stated. 
Those present at the meeting are on an equality, 
and under certain restrictions imposed by the rules, 
the object of which is to preserve order and protect 
the rights of the minority, and not to stifle debate, 
each one has the right to make a nomination, and to 
urge the merits of his nominee. If properly second- 
ed, or supported, these nominations are acted upon, 
the vote upon each nomination being viva voce. As 
soon as the necessary business is completed the 
meeting adjourns without day, and it only remains 
for the Secretary to give to each delegate his 
credentials to the convention for which he was 
chosen, and the credentials are in the form of a letter 
stating the fact of his election. 

Simple as is this procedure it forms the very 
basis of our political system. The citizen here exer- 
cises his highest prerogative, and determines what 
person shall represent him in the Legislature, and 
what officers shall as his representatives perform the 
wishes of the Legislature, or shall attend to such 
matters which are more properly performed by the 
government. It is here, moreover, that the individual 
citizen can exert the greatest pressure, and it is when 
scheming and unscrupulous demagogues have gained 
possession of and have controlled the primaries, that 



THE ELECTORATE, 95 

the greatest instances of misgovernment have re- 
sulted. By open debate the general standing and 
merits of the candidates proposed can be thoroughly 
canvassed, and a fit and proper nomination result. 
But when this source of political action is corrupted, 
and in place of originating action it is used to favor 
the purposes of political " bosses," then the primary 
becomes merely a form for registering the edicts of 
party leaders, so that it has sometimes been said 
that a nomination in caucus is equivalent to an elec- 
tion. 1 

The action of the nominating convention differs 
but little from that of the primary, save in the fact 
that it is composed of members regularly elected in 
the various districts according to the forms laid 
down for regulating such elections. Instead of act- 
ing directly, as in the caucus, the people act indi- 
rectly through delegates. The convention, then, 
bears the same relation to the primary as the Legis- 
lature (State) does to the town meeting. A State 
convention is composed of delegates chosen in each 
of the minor political division of the States, and 
nominates State officers, and, at stated intervals, 
Presidential electors. The National convention is 
composed of delegates from each State, and meets 
to nominate the President and Vice-President of the 
United States. These conventions, State and Na- 

1 For the practical action of the caucus and the manner in which it is used 
in New York City see an article by Mr. F. W. Whitredge in vol. i of " Cy- 
clopaedia of Political Science." 



g6 THE AMERICAN CITIZEN'S MANUAL. 

tional, are governed by the rules which govern leg- 
islative assemblies, and they differ little from them 
save in the object for which they are assembled. 
These meetings and conventions are merely parts 
of party organization, and as such are under party 
management, and are not generally recognized or 
regulated by law. 1 

Nor does party action end with the nomination 
of the candidates. The various committees are ac- 
tively engaged throughout the election in pushing 
their candidate and urging upon the people the issues 
he represents. Political documents are circulated, 
the party leaders " stump " for the party candidate, 
ballots and posters are prepared and printed, and 
means for bringing the sick or infirm to the polls or 
voting - places, are provided. Every means are 
adopted for favoring their candidate and discrediting 
his opponent. Nor are such proceedings confined 
to legitimate modes of action ; but bribery, buying 

1 In some States the protection of the law has been extended to the pri- 
mary meetings with a view of diminishing fraud and undue influence. Thus, 
a law of Ohio provides for the calling together of a caucus and the manner in 
which notice of such meeting is to be given ; and a like law is in force in 
Missouri and California. In New York, as an experiment, the law regu- 
lates certain parts of the proceedings of the caucus in the city of Brooklyn. 
41 The principles of public policy which forbid and make void all contracts 
tending to the corrupting of elections held under an authority of law, apply 
equally to what are called primary or nominating elections, or conventions, 
although these are mere voluntary proceedings of the voters of certain polit- 
ical parties. It is quite as much against public policy to permit contracts 
to be made for the purpose of corrupting a convention or primary election, 
as to permit the same thing to be done to corrupt voters at a regular elec- 
tion. The buying or selling of votes, or of influence, at a nominating con- 
vention or election is quite as abhorrent to the law as the same corrupt 
practices when employed to influence an election provided for by statute." — 
McCrary, " Law of Elections," § 192. 



THE ELECTORATE, 97 

of votes, the free use of money and of liquor, 1 and 
other means too numerous to be mentioned, are 
freely employed, with a view of influencing the result 
of the election. All of these expedients, as well as 
others which pertain more directly to the machinery 
of elections, such as ballot-stuffing and fraudulent! 
returns, are committed under party management, 
and the parties are alone responsible for such abuses 
of the elective franchise. 

The Election. 

The time, places, and manner of holding elections 
are regulated by provisions in the State Constitution, 
or by legislative enactment, and this is true not only 
in the case of state and local elections but also in that 
of national elective officers. But Congress has power 
to make or alter such regulations in the case of sena- 
tors and representatives (save as to the places of 
electing senators who must of necessity be chosen at 
the seat of government in the state) when it deems 
such interference necessary to the public good. 
Thus, before the year 1866, each state elected its 
senators as it pleased ; some by a separate vote in 
each house of the state legislature, and others by 
both houses meeting and voting in one body. But 
in that year a uniform rule was imposed by Congress 
on the states, by the act approved July 2 5. " The 
legislature of each state which shall be chosen next 

1 In some States, by law, all liquor stores must be closed on election day. 



98 THE AMERICAN CITIZEN'S MANUAL. 

preceding the expiration of the time for which any 
senator was elected to represent said state in Con- 
gress shall, on the second Tuesday after the meeting 
and organization thereof proceed to elect a senator 
in Congress. Such election shall be conducted in 
the following manner : Each house shall openly, by 
a viva-voce vote of each member present name one 
person for senator in Congress from such state, and 
the name of the person so voted for, who receives a 
majority of the whole number of votes cast in each 
house, shall be entered on the journal of that house 
by the clerk or secretary thereof ; or if either house 
fails to give such majority to any person on that 
day, the fact shall be entered on the journal. At 
twelve o'clock meridian of the day following that on 
which proceedings are required to be taken as afore- 
said, the members of the two houses shall convene 
in joint assembly, and the journal of each house shall 
then be read, and if the same person has received a 
majority of the votes in each house, he shall be de- 
clared duly elected senator. But if the same person 
has not received a majority of the votes in each 
house, or if either house has failed to take proceed- 
ings as required by this section, the joint assembly 
shall then proceed to choose by a viva-voce vote of 
each member present, a person for senator, and the 
person who receives a majority of all the votes of 
the joint assembly, a majority of all the members 
elected to both houses being present and voting, 



THE ELECTORATE. 99 

shall be declared duly elected. If no person receives 
such majority on the first day, the joint assembly 
shall meet at twelve o'clock meridian of each suc- 
ceeding day during the session of the legislature, 
and shall take at least one vote, until a senator is 
elected/' 

In the election of Representatives, also, Congress 
has interfered and availed itself of the power granted 
to it. In many states before 1842, representatives 
to Congress were elected on a general ticket to be 
voted upon by the people of the state at large ; but 
by an act of 1842, Congress prescribed that where 
a state was entitled to more than one representative, 
they should be elected by districts composed of con- 
tiguous territory, thus requiring the state to divide 
its territory into as many districts as it had repre- 
sentatives in Congress, each district being entitled 
to elect one such representative. By further acts 
which extend from 1848 to 1875, Congress has de- 
termined that the election shall be by ballot, and not 
viva-voce 2& was sometimes done ; and that unless 
the state constitution fixes a time for the election, it 
shall be held in each state on the Tuesday after the 
first Monday in November. This is the extent to 
which Congress has legislated on the subject of the 
time, places, and manner of conducting elections, 
but these regulations apply only in the election of 
Federal legislative officers, and do not hold good in 
the election of state or local officers. But apart from 



100 THE AMERICAN CITIZEN'S MANUAL. 

these regulations the same machinery of election is 
used in electing both state and federal officers. 

The essential steps in an election are somewhat 
as follows : The Secretary of State issues to the 
sheriff, clerk, or county judge in each county a no- 
tice specifying the officers to be chosen at the next 
general election. The sheriff or other officer re- 
ceiving the notice transmits a copy of it to the super- 
visor or one of the assessors in each town or ward 
of his county, and these officers, together with the 
town-clerk in the several towns, and the common 
council in cities, designate the places for holding the 
elections, such places being known as polls. The 
polls are open from sunrise to sunset, and are under 
the charge of inspectors in each district, who are 
chosen from both parties, 1 and whose duty it is to 
count the number of ballots cast and make a return 
of such ballots to the supervisors for each district. 
The board of supervisors or assessors makes up the 
return for the county by combining those received 
from the districts, and transmits the same to the 
county clerk who also files a list with the Secretary 
of State. A board of state officers, consisting of the 
Secretary of State, the comptroller, state engineer, 
attorney general and treasurer, examines the state- 
ments of the county clerks, and from the results of 

1 " The officers of election are chosen of necessity from among all classes of 
the people ; they are numbered in every state by thousands ; they are often 
men unaccustomed to the formalities of legal proceedings. Omissions and 
mistakes in the discharge of their ministerial duties are almost inevitable." 
Report on contested election case, Blair vs Barrett, 1870. 



THE ELECTORATE. 101 

such examination declares what officers are elected. 
The Secretary of State then sends the proper noti- 
fication to the persons chosen. In order to give 
greater publicity to the various steps just described, 
notices of them are from time to time published in 
the newspapers throughout the state. 

Such a description, however, gives but a very im- 
perfect idea of the immense amount of detail inci- 
dent to an election, nearly all of which is subject to 
regulation by state laws. And with a view to giving 
in outline the essential points of such regulations, an 
election will be described more in detail ; but it 
should be understood that such details are not uni- 
formly demanded in all the states, and hardly two of 
them have an election system alike in every particu- 
lar. Only the more important points are here given 
and illustrated, and these may be considered under 
the following heads : Registration, election or bal- 
loting, canvassing, and return of votes. 

Registration. — In order to prevent the overcrowd- 
ing of polling places, by which delay may occur, vot- 
ers may be excluded from voting by lack of time, 
and fraud and intimidation ensue from the polls being 
filled with the men of one party who will endeavor 
to throw every obstacle in the way of the voters of 
the opposing party, a populous district, city or 
county, is divided into a number of voting precincts, 
each precinct containing a small number of voters as 
compared with the population of the district or 



102 THE AMERICAN CITIZEN'S MANUAL, 

city. Thus the city of New York is divided into 
voting precincts which contain about two hundred 
and fifty voters each. Furthermore each voter in 
the precinct is required to register, that is, he 
must present himself in person on certain ap- 
pointed days before officers chosen for the purpose, 
and enroll his name, and state such other facts as to 
his time of residence in the precinct, county and state, 
his naturalization if a foreign born citizen, etc., which 
may be required of him. Whoever neglects thus to 
be enrolled, cannot vote at the election, and any 
person applying to be registered may be challenged 
by a qualified voter, when the inspectors examine 
into the qualifications of the challenged voter and 
determine if he may be allowed to vote. When 
completed, the register is subject to revision, because 
there may be some voters enrolled who are under 
fictitious names, or who are non-residents, or who 
are personating absent or deceased persons, all of 
which has been frequently practiced. 

It will be seen that the necessity for small voting 
districts and a complete registration apply to the 
populous districts rather than to those where the 
population is small and scattered. In the latter the 
inspectors of elections are competent to decide who 
are and who are not entitled to vote. But in a city 
the machinery of registration is needed, and its in- 
troduction has tended to diminish in a great degree 
a number of illicit practices, such as the transfer 



THE ELECTORATE. IO3 

of large bodies of voters from one district to an- 
other, ballot stuffing and repeating, or voting more 
than once. There is a new list made out on ap- 
pointed days once a year to be used in general 
elections, but for other elections a revision of the 
general registration is found to be sufficient. In 
States where the payment of a poll or other tax, or 
a property qualification, is required of the voter, 
there is no need of a special registry, for these lists 
may be used for the same purpose. 

Election or Balloting. 

At general elections all voting is conducted by bal- 
lot 1 " A ballot may be defined to be a piece of 
paper, or other suitable material, with the name 
written or printed upon it of the person voted for ; 
and where the suffrages are given in this form, each 
of the electors in person deposits such a vote in the 
box or other receptacle provided for the purpose, 
and kept by the proper officers." 2 The intention of 
the ballot is to insure secrecy, 3 and thus to prevent 

1 In Kentucky alone is the old system of voting viva voce still maintained. 
Art. viii, § 15 of her constitution, reads : — " In all elections by the people, 
and also by the Senate and House of Representatives, jointly or separately, 
the votes shall be personally and publicly given viva voce : Provided, that 
dumb persons entitled to suffrage, may vote by ballot/' In Congressional 
elections, however, this section is controlled by the Act of Congress requir- 
ing all votes for representatives in Congress to be printed or written ballots. 
In many of the States the Legislatures vote viva voce. 

2 Cushing's "Legislative Assembly," p. 103. 

3 It would appear that certain provisions which are found in the State 
Constitutions are framed against the secrecy of the ballot. Thus in that of 
Penn. occurs the provision that " every ballot voted shall be numbered in 
the order in which it shall be received, and the number recorded by the 



104 THE AMERICAN CITIZEN'S MANUAL, 

those influences tending to overbear and intimidate 
the voter when it is known how he votes. And to 
secure this secrecy minute regulations by statute as 
to the form and quality of the ballot have been or- 
dained. Thus in some States it has been thought 
sufficient to provide that all ballots shall be printed 
or written on plain white paper " without any mark 
or designation being placed thereon whereby the 
same may be known or designated," 1 and under 
this provision ballots printed on colored paper have 
been rejected. Not only would there be a tempta- 
tion to influence voters, if different ballots were al- 
lowed, but there would exist a stronger temptation 
to abuse the knowledge which such a difference 

election officers on the list of voters, opposite the name of the elector who 
presents the ballot. * * * The election officers shall be sworn or af- 
firmed not to disclose how any elector shall have voted unless required to 
do so as witnesses in a judicial proceeding." In Illinois the constitution 
provided that "all elections by the people shall be by ballot"; and -a 
statute which required the inspectors to number each ballot as is required in 
the Constitution of Penn. as just described, was declared unconstitutional 
and void. But the better opinion is to preserve the secrecy of the ballot in- 
violate. Thus Judge Cooley in his work on " Constitutional Limitations " 
says : " The system of ballot voting rests upon the idea that every elector is 
to be entirely at liberty to vote for whom he pleases and with what party he 
pleases, aud that no one is to have the right, or be in position, to question 
him for it, either then or at any subsequent time. The courts have held 
that a voter, even in case of a contested election, cannot be compelled to 
disclose for whom he voted ; and for the same reason we think others who 
may accidentally, or by trick or artifice,' have acquired knowledge on the 
subject, should not be allowed to testify to such knowledge, or to give any 
information in the courts upon the subject. ' Public policy requires that the 
veil of secrecy should be impenetrable ; unless the voter himself voluntarily 
determines to lift it ; his ballot is absolutely privileged ; and to allow evi- 
dence of its contents, when he has not waived the privilege, is to encour- 
age trickery and fraud, and would in effect establish this remarkable anom- 
aly, that, while the law from notions of public policy establishes the secret 
ballot with a view to conceal the elector's action, it at the same time en- 
courages a system of espionage, by means of which the veil of secrecy may 
be penetrated and the voter's action disclosed to the public " (p. 605). 
\ 1 Oregon, § 30, p. 572 of code. 



THE ELECTORATE. 105 

would give, when the canvass of votes was made. 
In Massachusetts no tickets are to be printed or 
distributed when there are three or more candi- 
dates to be voted for " unless such ballots are of 
plain white paper, in weight not less than that of 
ordinary printing paper, and are not more than five 
nor less than four and one-half inches in width ; and 
not more than twelve and one half, nor less than 
eleven and one half inches in length, and unless 
the same are printed with black ink on one side of 
the paper only, and contain no printing, engraving, 
device, or mark of any kind upon the back thereof. 
The names of the candidates shall be printed at 
right angles with the length of the ballot in capital 
letters not less than one eighth nor more than one 
fourth of an inch in height, and no name of any per- 
son appearing upon any ballot as a candidate for 
any office shall be repeated thereon with respect to 
the same office.' 

Yet notwithstanding such regulations, there are 
errors in balloting which may be overlooked, when 
there is no indication of an attempt at fraud, although 
under a strict construction of the law they should be 
rejected. Thus errors of spelling, or the use of ab- 
breviations, when they do not involve a doubt as to 
the intent of the voter, will be received ; nor will 
the omission of the word junior after a name make 
the ballot void. But the power of receiving such 
votes is open to grave abuses, and should be allowed 



106 THE AMERICAN CITIZEN'S MANUAL. 

and exercised with great caution. In a recent de- 
cision by the Supreme Court of California it was 
laid down that " as to those things over which the 
voter has control, the law is mandatory, and that as 
to such things as are not under his control, it should 
be held to be directory only." And the court con- 
cluded " that a ballot cast by an elector in good 
faith, should not be rejected for failure to comply 
with the law in matters over which the elector had 
no control ; such as the exact size of the ticket, the 
precise kind of paper, or the particular character of 
type or heading used. But if the elector wilfully neg- 
lects to comply with requirements over which he 
has control, such as seeing that the ballot when de- 
livered to the election officers, is not so marked that 
it may be identified, the ballot should be rejected." ' 
The intention of the voter is the guiding principle 
in such matters. 

When more than one officer is to be elected, sepa- 
rate ballots may be used, and different receptacles or 
ballot-boxes for the ballots for the offices or set of 
officers may be required. Thus in elections held in 
the city and county of New York there are at gen- 
eral elections no less than seven of such boxes ; 
marked respectively, President, General (for ballots 
cast for all officers in whose election all the voters of 
the city and county alike participate), Congress, 
Senator (State), Assembly, City (Aldermen) and 

1 Kirk vs. Rhoades, 46 Cal., 398. 



THE ELECTORATE. 107 

Justices (of the district court). In case of special 
questions submitted to the people at a general elec- 
tion, such as a constitutional amendment, other 
boxes may be added. This is to facilitate the count- 
ing of the votes. 

In New York city the elections are under the 
supervision of the Board of Police, which establishes 
a Bureau of Elections, appoints the chief of that 
Bureau, divides the city into voting precincts, and 
designates the places of registry and voting ; it ap 
points all inspectors of elections, there being four in 
each election district (two of whom, on State issues, 
shall be of different political faith and opinions from 
their associates) and poll clerks, whose duties are of 
a clerical nature, such as making out registration lists, 
assisting in the canvass, etc., etc., of which there are 
two in each district, and they must be of different po- 
litical faith on State issues. The inspectors of elec- 
tions revise the registry list, preserve order at the 
polls, suppress riots, and protect voters and challen- 
gers * ; and canvass or count the vote, And in every 
election district there are at least two inspectors, 
overseers or managers of election, who are chosen 
either directly by the people or by certain officers 
to whom the power is given. In New York city 
the inspectors are appointed by the Board of Police ; 

1 Each political party has the right to be represented at each place of 
registration, revision of registration and voting, by a challenger who stands 
near the inspectors, and challenges voters whom he suspects of fraudulent 
voting, when the matter is examined by the inspectors, and the vote accepted 
or rejected. 



108 THE AMERICAN CITIZEN'S MANUAL. 

but the constitution of Pennsylvania provides that in 
every district there shall be a board of elections con- 
sisting of a judge and two inspectors, chosen annu- 
ally by the people ; and as a further precaution, 
" the courts of common pleas of the several counties 
of the commonwealth shall have power within their 
respective jurisdictions, to appoint overseers of elec- 
tion to supervise the proceedings of election officers 
and to make report to the court as may be required, 
such appointments to be made for any district in a 
city or county upon petition of five citizens, setting 
forth that such appointment is a reasonable pre- 
caution to secure the purity and fairness of elections/' 
These overseers must possess certain qualifications, 
and, there being two for each election district, must 
belong to different political parties. And a like pro- 
tection is afforded by the United States election 
law, but the number of petitioners must, in that 
case, be ten. 1 

In no State are the purity of elections and the 
freedom of electors not guaranteed by statute, but 
these provisions are not uniform, although they all 

1 "Several of the States have recognized the importance of providing for 
the presence with the election officers of witnesses representing the parties 
to the contest. * * * For example, the law of Alabama provides for the 
presence of five of each party ; that of Florida provides for the presence of 
one representative of each political party that has nominated candidates ; 
that of Illinois, for the presence of two legal voters of each party to the con- 
test ; those of Kansas and Oregon permit the presence of the candidates 
in person, or of not exceeding three of their friends. Similar statutes are to 
be found in Pennsylvania and Virginia. The very important requirement 
that the board of election officers should be composed of members of differ- 
ent political parties is omitted from the statutes of twenty-two states." — Mc- 
Crary, " On Elections," § 570-1. 



THE ELECTORATE, IOg 

aim at the same object. The elector is privileged 
from arrest during his attendance on elections, ex- 
cept for treason, felony or breach of the peace. He 
is protected from undue and corrupt influences. 
Thus in Pennsylvania, any person who shall give, or 
promise, or offer to give, to an elector, any money 
rewards or other valuable consideration, for his vote 
at an election, or for withholding the same, or who 
shall give or promise to give such consideration to 
any other person or party for such elector's vote, 
and any elector who shall take or receive any re- 
ward or consideration for his vote, shall forfeit the 
right to vote at such election ; and although such laws 
do not, and cannot wholly do away with corrupt 
practices at elections, they tend to diminish fraud. 
The Canvass. — But all these precautions against 
fraud will not secure honest elections, unless 
further precautions are taken to protect the counting 
of the ballots cast ; and at this stage of an election 
fraud may be, and continually is perpetrated, despite 
of all legal restraints. The counting or canvassing 
is performed by the inspectors of elections, who are 
of different political faith and opinions, and it is gen- 
erally done immediately after the close of the elec- 
tion, and in the very room where the election was 
held. This is to prevent any tampering with the 
ballot-boxes, either by withdrawing some of the bal- 
lots cast, or by putting in such as could not have 
been voted under forms of law. In Mississippi, a 



IIO THE AMERICAN CITIZEN'S MANUAL. 

State that is notorious for its election frauds, if the 
canvass is not finished by midnight of the day of the 
election, it may be completed the next day ; and in 
South Carolina three days are allowed to the man- 
agers in which to deliver to the commissioners of 
election the poll-list, and the boxes containing the 
ballots ; and, as if to favor fraud and tampering 
with the boxes, it is provided that these commis- 
sioners of election shall meet at the county seat, 
nearly a week after the election, and proceed to 
count the votes of the county. 

Where registration or a poll-list is employed, a 
canvass consists in comparing the number of bal- 
lots found in the box with the number of actual 
voters on the list, and in case there are found more 
ballots in the box than can be accounted for by the 
lists, such excess shall be drawn from the box and 
destroyed before an examination of the ballots is 
made. If the election is a local one, the inspec- 
tors merely count the number of votes and declare 
the result. But if it is a county or State election, 
they must make a written return of the number 
of votes cast in their district to higher canvass- 
ing boards, which in turn also prepare returns for 
the political divisions under their charge, to be 
forwarded to still other boards, as has already been 
described. The State Canvassing Board is the high- 
est of these various boards, and declares the final 
result. 



THE ELECTORATE. Ill 

It is a well established rule that the duties of can- 
vassing boards are purely ministerial, no judicial 
functions adhering to them. Their duty is one of 
arithmetic only, to count the number of votes and 
issue a certificate to the candidate receiving the 
highest number. They cannot reject what is, on its 
face, a correct return, and they cannot go behind the 
returns for any purpose ; not even to correct the 
errors and mistakes of any officer that preceded 
them in the performance of any duty connected with 
the election. They have no discretion to hear and 
take proof of frauds, "even if morally certain that 
monstrous frauds have been perpetrated. The can- 
vassing officers are to add up and certify by calcula- 
tion the number of votes given for any office." T In 
some of the Southern States, such as Texas, Ala- 
bama, Louisiana, and Florida, the Legislature has 
expressly conferred by statute upon the board of 
canvassing officers the power to revise the returns 
of an election, to take proof and in their discretion 
to reject such votes as they deem illegal. But this 
is a power that is open to grave abuses, and has 
never been adopted by other states. " If canvassers 
refuse or neglect to perform their duty, they may be 
compelled by mandamus ; though as these boards are 
created for a single purpose only, and are dissolved 
by an adjournment without day, it would seem that, 
after such adjournment, mandamus would be inap- 

1 Att , y Gen'l vs. Barstow. 4 Wiscon., 749. 



112 THE AMERICAN CITIZEN'S MANUAL, 

plicable, inasmuch as there is no longer any board 
which can act ; and the board themselves, having 
once performed and fully completed their duty, have 
no power afterward to reconsider their determination 
and come to a different conclusion/' 1 

In the event of a contested election, in which two 
or more persons claim to have been legally elected, 
and therefore entitled to an office, ample provision 
is made for a proper solution of the subject. Where 
the election is to a legislative office, the final decision 
rests with the legislative body ; in other cases the 
proper courts must decide, " It matters not how 
high and important the office, an election to it is 
only made by the candidate receiving the requisite 
plurality of the legal votes cast ; and if any one with- 
out having received such plurality, intrudes into an 
office whether with or without a certificate of election, 
the courts have jurisdiction to oust, as well as to 
punish him for such intrusion." 2 

A majority or plurality of votes, nowever small, 
decides the election, and it thus happens in a closely 
contested election that a portion of the community, 
the minority, however large, has no representa- 
tive of its wishes, and is to that extent, without 
representation. Thus it may happen that in a 
district there are 5oo Republicans and 55o Demo- 
crats ; in this case, the Democrats, by a solid vote 
will be able to fill all the offices at their com- 

1 Cooley, "Consti. Limitations," p. 623. 
2 Cooley, " Consti. Limitations," p. 624. 



THE ELECTORATE. 113 

mand with their candidates, and the Republicans, 
who are nearly equal in numbers, will be unrepre- 
sented in the Government. The glaring injustice 
of this manner of deciding elections has led to many- 
schemes of minority representation, by which this 
minority may, under certain conditions, be enabled^ 
to elect some of its candidates in the face of an 
opposing majority. 

Of the theory of minority representation we can 
say nothing. The division of the States into dis- 
tricts, and of the districts into minor subdivisions, 
does produce a form of minority representation, for 
nothing is more common than for an officer to be 
elected in a State or district which is, on a general 
vote, opposed to him in politics. It has well been 
said that the majority rule if carried out relentlessly 
in the election of representatives, would obliterate 
all election district lines, and lead to a general vote 
of the whole body of the people for the whole Legis- 
lative Assembly ; which would then be composed of 
members belonging to one party. But this division 
into districts does not give any real relief to the 
minority from the disadvantages under which it 
labors, and other more complicated systems have 
been tried. Two of these forms have been adopted 
in certain elections in this country, viz.: the limited 
vote, and the cumulative vote. 

Under the limited vote each elector is allowed to 
vote for a fixed number of persons less than the 
whole number to be elected. Thus in New York 



114 THE AMERICAN CITIZEN'S MANUAL, 

County two members of the board of supervisors 
are elected each year. The law governing this 
election provides that no person shall vote for more 
than one candidate ; the candidate receiving the 
highest number of votes was elected, and as the 
plan was formed to divide representation between 
the two parties, the next highest candidate was ap- 
pointed a supervisor. 1 For many years the plan 
worked well, the Democrats electing a supervisor, 
and the Republicans being entitled to the appoint- 
ment of another ; but as the Democrats outnum- 
bered the Republicans by more than two to one, the 
party leaders arranged it so that the Democrats in 
certain wards should vote for A, and those in others 
for B. Under this arrangement A and B were 
elected, and the Republican candidate was left out 
altogether. A like plan of electing aldermen in 
New York City has just been abolished, and a re- 
turn to the old system of electing one alderman in 
each district made. In this case, six aldermen were 
elected at large, each voter however, being allowed 
to vote only for four ; and three aldermen were 
elected in each aldermanic district, but a voter could 
only cast his ballot for two candidates. By an 
amendment to the New York constitution adopted 
in 1869 the limited vote was applied to the elec- 
tion of the judges of the court of appeals. The 
court was composed of a chief judge and six asso- 
ciate judges ; but " at the first election of judges 

1 Passed April 15, 1857 ; and modified by act passed April 17, 1S58. 



THE ELECTORATE. 1 15 

under this constitution, every elector may vote for 
the chief and only four of the associate judges." 
The system is used in many localities in the selec- 
tion of supervisors and inspectors of elections. 

Under the second, or cumulative vote, a certain 
number of votes are given to each elector to be dis- 
tributed as he pleases. Thus the constitution of the 
State of Illinois, which adopted the system in 1870, 
so far as regards the election of representatives, pro- 
vides for the division of the State into districts, 
each district to be entitled to three representatives. 
"In all the elections of representatives aforesaid 
each qualified voter may cast as many votes for one 
candidate as there are representatives to be elected, 
or may distribute the same, or equal parts thereof, 
as he shall see fit ; and the candidates highest in 
votes shall be declared elected " (Art. iv, § 7 and 8). 
Under this system the voters are permitted to give 
all three of their votes to one candidate— one to 
each of three, or two to one candidate, and the 
third to another, as he wishes. In this system by 
concentrating their votes on one candidate a minor- 
ity may be reasonably certain of electing him. It 
has been adopted in certain classes of municipal 
elections in Pennsylvania. 1 

1 This and other systems of minority representation are discussed in Buck- 
alew's " Proportional Representation." He strongly favors the cumulative 
system. What is regarded as the best system, that proposed by Mr. Thomas 
Hare, in which each vote counts for only one of several persons on the bal- 
lot, although more than one are to be chosen, has never been introduced into 
this country. It has been ably defended by Mr. Mill against adverse criti- 
cisms, but it requires a higher standard of intelligence and political morality 
than exists at present. See Mill's " Representative Government." 



CHAPTER IV. 

OFFICES AND OFFICE-HOLDERS. 

The number of officials who are charged with 
carrying into effect the action of government, a 
number that is necessarily very large under a sys- 
tem of national, state and local governments, in 
which representatives of all are to be met with in 
the minor political divisions, renders the mode of 
selecting these officials a most important, and at the 
same time a most complex question. Office is a 
trust, and is to be held only for the performance of 
the duties that have been assigned to it; and when 
an official employs his position to further his own 
or his party's aims, he abuses his trust, and should 
be made accountable for such abuse. How are the 
men most fitted for the place to be obtained ? How 
may the best service be secured from them ? and 
finally, what is very important, in what manner may 
they be held strictly responsible for their conduct 
in office, for even the best of officials must be ac- 
countable in some way for their actions ? That 
none of these questions have been answered in a 
satisfactory manner by the existing system of ap- 

116 






OFFICES AND OFFICE-HOLDERS. 117 

pointing to office is shown very plainly by the open 
abuse of official position and influence, and by the 
widespread corruption of the civil service ; and they 
promise to become ere long one of the most promi- 
nent questions in national and state politics. It will 
be well then to glance briefly at the existing system 
and to suggest the most important remedies for the 
evils prevalent in that system. 

The more important offices are provided for in 
the constitutions, both state and national. Thus in 
the Federal constitution the manner of electing the 
president and vice-president are expressly stated, 
and also the manner of appointing judges 1 ; their 
terms of office are indicated, and their general 
powers and duties defined. In like manner a State 
constitution contains like provisions respecting the 
more important of the State officers. In such cases 
the powers of the Legislature are restricted by the 
constitutional provisions, and no change may be 
made by statute in any thing that is thus expressly 
laid down. But the Legislature may pass such laws 
as are necessary to carry into effect the constitution, 
and here its powers end. With regard, however, to 
the vast number of minor offices, the majority of 
which is found in the executive department of gov- 
ernment, the power of the Legislature is supreme. 
It may create the office, grant such powers as it 

1 There is some doubt as to whether members of Congress are properly 
" officers " or not, the question never having come before the Supreme Court 
for decision. For this reason all mention of Legislators as officers is 
omitted. 



Il8 THE AMERICAN CITIZEN'S MANUAL. 

chooses, prescribe the manner of filling it, limit the 
term of service, and fix the salary of the incumbent, 
and place him under such restrictions and control as 
it sees fit. 

In order to render the question of office as free as 
possible from outside complications, the executive 
department of government will first be dealt with 
as that from its very functions demands a large num- 
ber of officials, reaching into the smallest political 
division of the country, moving in direct contact 
with the people, and at the same demands a high 
degree of accountability, for the trusts are important 
and easily abused. 

For these reasons to appoint all executive officials 
except the chief executive officer, is better calculated 
to secure an efficient service, than to elect by popu- 
lar vote. Take for example the Federal govern- 
ment. There is the head of the executive depart- 
ment, the president, who very properly holds his 
office by popular vote, for in no other way could 
there be so little opportunity for fraud and intrigue. 
And for a like reason the vice-president, who is the 
possible president, is chosen in the same manner. 
The president appoints the heads of the various ex- 
ecutive departments, who act under his guidance ; 
he appoints many of the department officers ; he ap- 
points all revenue collectors, both of customs and of 
internal revenue ; all postmasters whose salaries are 
above $1,000 a year ; all diplomatic and commercial 



OFFICES AND OFFICE-HOLDERS. 1 19 

agents (consuls and consular agents), who are the 
instruments of executive action in foreign countries, 
and many others. The appointment of many in- 
ferior officers is vested in the heads of the depart- 
ments or such other executive officers as may be 
designated by Congress. But, as the chief, the presi- 
dent is responsible not only for his own acts, but 
also for the acts of those who hold office through his 
appointment or that of officers directly responsible 
to him. In the vast system of Federal executive it 
may be said that the president is responsible, di- 
rectly or indirectly, for every part of its action, and 
for every one of the agents of that action. For this 
reason it is very proper that he should appoint to 
office the men who are intended to carry into effect 
his will. That the advice and consent of the Senate 
are required changes but little the theory of such a 
system of appointments ; for, as has been said, the 
Senate does not pass upon nominations as a legisla- 
tive, but as an advisory body, — as a council of ap- 
pointment. It is intended to serve as a check upon 
the action of the president, who might be led to 
abuse the power of patronage if he were not so re- 
stricted. No executive agent, save the President, 
should be held politically responsible to Congress. 
Such a provision would beget endless contention. 

That the principle in force in the executive de- 
partment of the Federal government is the only true 
one cannot be doubted, although it has been often 



120 THE AMERICAN CITIZEN'S MANUAL. 

abused for party or personal reasons. Public ap- 
pointments should be made on the sole authority of 
those to whom directly or indirectly the holder of 
the office is subordinate. And in respect to respon- 
sibility the Federal executive furnishes a model that 
is worthy of all imitation. 

" The actual conduct of foreign negotiation, the 
preparatory plans of finance, the application and dis- 
bursements of public moneys in conformity to the 
general appropriations of the Legislature, the ar- 
rangement of the army and navy, the direction of 
the operations of war, these, and other matters of 
like nature, constitute what seems to be most 
properly understood by the administration of govern- 
ment. The persons, therefore, to whose immediate 
management these different matters are committed, 
ought to be considered as the assistants or deputies 
of the chief magistrate, and on this account they 
ought to derive their offices from his appointment, 
at least from his nomination, and ought to be sub- 
ject to his superintendence." r 

But when we pass from the Federal to the State 
executive, a very different system is found. Under 
the impression that election by the people only is in 
accordance with true democratic principles, one after 
another the chief executive officers have become 
elective. The governor is elective, and stands in 
the same relation to the State government as the 

1 Federalist, p. 502. 



OFFICES AND OFFICE-HOLDERS. 121 

President does to the Federal government. Yet he 
possesses little power of appointing his subordinates, 
although in theory he is responsible for their ac- 
tions. The chief executive officers of the State, who 
perform the administrative functions in the State that 
the Cabinet does in the nation, hold their offices by 
a popular election, or at the hands of the same power 
that raised the governor to his office. So that in- 
stead of being subordinated to his guidance, and ac- 
countable to him for their actions, which are per- 
formed while carrying into effect the governor's 
functions, distributed for convenience among a num- 
ber of officers, they are his equals and independent 
of his control. 

Moreover not only are they made independent 
officers, but by the manner of choosing them, they 
may be made politically opposed to the governor, 
and thus this system tends to destroy that unity of 
purpose and action that should be one of the chief 
characteristics of the executive. Thus the governor 
may belong to one political party and may be 
pledged to support a certain line of public policy ; 
the secretary of State, or treasurer, or all the exec- 
utive officers may belong to another party and 
pledged to carry into effect a totally different policy. 
And yet they cannot be brought under the control 
of the governor, and there is no way by which he 
may secure harmony in the administration, for the 
State constitution prescribes the manner of choosing 



122 THE AMERICAN CITIZEN'S MANUAL. 

these officers, and by that constitution they are to be 
elected by the people. It is an evil when the Leg- 
islature and executive are not in accord ; but the 
evil becomes greatly magnified when dissension oc- 
curs in one of the administrative departments. 

In such a system where does the responsibility 
rest ? Certainly not with the governor, for he has 
no voice in the selection of these officers. In place 
of one authority, there is the authority of many, and 
instead of one responsible head, the responsibility is 
divided, and we must hold the " people " or the 
" party " to account for selecting inefficient or cor- 
rupt officers. There is no real responsibility in this 
system. 

Take another example of an office being made 
elective when all theory is against it. The sheriff 
is as much an agent of the State as distinguished 
from local action, as is a Federal internal revenue 
collector an agent of national as distinguished from 
State action. In either case to secure a higher ef- 
ficiency of government, their action is confined to a 
limited territory. " That officer [the sheriff] is," 
says one of our clearest political writers, 1 " the lieu- 
tenant of the governor in a county. He is properly 
a part of the State, and not of the local or municipal 
administration. He is custodian of the peace of the 
county. It is his duty, on order of the governor, 

1 Charles Nordhoff, in North American Review, October, 1871. This 
essay will repay a careful study, and we have freely used Mr. NordhofTs 
arguments and illustrations in this chapter, often using his very words. 



OFFICES AND OFFICE-HOLDERS. 1 23 

or without if the case is urgent, to suppress unlaw- 
ful assemblages, to quell riots and affrays, and to 
arrest and commit to jail if need be those engaged 
in the disturbance of the public order." Yet the 
appointment of this officer has in a majority of the 
States been taken from the governor, and he is 
elected by popular vote in each county, being thus 
in form a county, but in functions a State, officer. 
It is true that this incongruity is in some States les- 
sened by limiting the sheriff to one term of office, 
or by prohibiting him from holding office for two 
successive terms. 1 For, to illustrate, let it be sup- 
posed that the sheriff is called upon to enforce in 
his county a measure to which the inhabitants of the 
county are hostile. Will he act with as much vigor 
when he knows that his remaining in office depends 
upon his ability to retain the good will of the electors 
of his county, than if he held his office independ- 
ently of them ? Or could he refrain from using his 
official position and influence to secure a re-elec- 
tion ? These are questions which are only in part 
answered by limiting the term of office. That the 
system of electing sheriffs, and like officers, such as 
coroners and district attorneys, does weaken ex- 
ecutive responsibility, is unquestioned ; although the 
responsibility of the governor is very often recog- 
nized (as in New York State) by giving him power 
to remove such officers. 

1 In New York State, sheriffs shall be ineligible for the next three years 
after the termination of their offices. 



124 THE AMERICAN CITIZEN'S MANUAL. 

But if the organization of the local and municipal 
governments is examined, the elective principle will 
be found to be in most cases more predominant than 
in the State government. In the township govern- 
ments this evil is not great, because the interests at 
stake are neither many nor important, and where the 
town-meeting exists, the officers may be held to a 
strict account for their conduct of affairs. In town- 
meeting all officers of the local government are 
elected. But with respect to a city, where the prob- 
lems of government are complex, and where even 
under the best devised administration there appears 
to be opportunity for fraud, the needs are of a very 
different nature. As the functions of a city govern- 
ment are almost wholly of an administrative nature, 
the highest degree of accountability would appear 
necessary. Moreover, it would also seem as if unity 
in action was also desirable, and for this, one ruling 
head is requisite. For these reasons, we would ex- 
pect to find a city government modelled after the 
Federal executive, which secures both of these req- 
uisites. And in some cities this is nearly the case. 
Thus in Baltimore, the mayor nominates, and by and 
with the advice and consent of a convention of the 
two branches of the city council appoints all officers 
under the corporation, except the register of the 
city and the clerks employed by the city. By a very 
recent provision in the city charter, the mayor of 
Brooklyn (N. Y.), has the power of appointing the 



OFFICES AND OFFICE-HOLDERS. 1 25 

successor of any commissioner or other head of de- 
partment (except the department of finance and 
the department of audit), or of any assessor or 
member of the board of education of said city, when 
the terms of such officers shall expire. 

In organizing a city government it has generally 
been feared that the mayor may be invested with 
too extensive powers, and that by centralizing too 
many powers in his hands, the opportunity for 
abuse will be greatly increased, while the power of 
remedying abuse will be decreased. Through this 
fear the mayor has been deprived of many powers 
which would rightly belong to him, and especially is 
this the case with regard to the power of appoint- 
ment. In the city of Boston, the mayor with one of 
the branches of the council, appoints some of the 
executive officers of the city ; others are elected by 
a concurrent vote of the two branches of the council ; 
and some of the administrative boards, such as the 
overseers of the poor and school committees, are 
elected by the people. But the charter also pro- 
vides that " that all boards and officers acting under 
the authority of said corporation [i.e. the city], and 
entrusted with the expenditure of public money, 
shall be accountable therefore to the city council." 
This does not, however, secure as high a degree of 
accountability as a system which makes all executive 
officers responsible to one person. In the city of 
New Orleans, the elective principle is applied to 



126 THE AMERICAN CITIZEN'S MANUAL, 

nearly all the administrative offices of the city. The 
mayor, treasurer, comptroller, commissioner of pub- 
lic works, and commissioners of police and public 
buildings, are all elected by the people ; and the 
surveyor of the city, and city attorney are elected 
by the council. And, notwithstanding this system, 
in which the mayor is to all appearances freed from 
any responsibility respecting the other administrative 
officers, the charter provides that it " is his duty to 
report to the council all officers and persons em- 
ployed by the city, who fail to perform their duty, 
or commit any act for which they should be im- 
peached or removed from office/' But, unless it 
was also provided that he may suspend such officers, 
the mayor would be almost powerless to correct 
abuses in the city departments, save by the uncertain 
process of impeachment. 

It is a common belief that to vest all appointments 
in the executive, with or without the consent of the 
Senate, tends to centralization ; and that is undoubt- 
edly the effect when the power is given absolutely 
to the executive. For, however open to abuses, the 
need of obtaining the consent of the Senate does act 
as a check on the appointing power, and this check 
is often well employed. But, by actual experience, 
it has been shown, that a system of election tends 
more strongly to centralize power, and at the same 
time to disturb that harmony that should exist in the 
administration of affairs. Thus in one of the con- 



OFFICES AND OFFICE-HOLDERS. \2J 

stitutions of South Carolina, all appointments were 
to be effected by ballot or by joint vote of the Legis- 
lature, without any co-operation of the governor. 
"It produced," says Dr. Lieber, " a stringent cen- 
tralization without a sharply felt responsibility — a 
state of things by no means inviting imitation." 1 

That all executive officers* should be held respon- 
sible for their conduct is a truism that scarcely re- 
quires to be mentioned. But how they may be 
made accountable is a difficult problem. It would 
appear that the appointing agent should also possess 
the power of removal. Yet even in the Federal 
government the power of removal is restricted by 
the tenure of office act, under which the president 
can only suspend an officer until a successor is ap- 
pointed. All the chief executive officers in the 
State may be impeached, 2 but judgment in such 
cases does not extend further than to removal from 
office and disqualification to hold any office of trust 
or profit under the State. Nor does such judg- 
ment shield the impeached official from indict- 
ment and punishment according to law. But the 
process of impeachment is a tedious and uncertain 
method of holding officials to account, and it would 
be a better plan to give the power of removal or 

1 Reflections on the changes which may seem necessary in the present con- 
stitution of the State of New York, 1867. 

2 ' * Public officers shall not be impeached ; but incompetency, corruption, 
malfeasance, or delinquency in office may be tried in the same manner as 
criminal offenses, and judgment may be given of dismissal from office, and 
such further punishment as may have been prescribed by law," — Constitu- 
tion of Oregon. 



128 THE AMERICAN CITIZEN'S MANUAL. 

even suspension to the chief executive. The con- 
stitution of Pennsylvania (1873) contains the follow- 
ing salutary provision : " All officers shall hold their 
offices on the condition that they behave themselves 
well while in office, and shall be removed on convic- 
tion of misbehavior in office, or of any infamous 
crime. Appointed officers, other than judges of the 
courts of record and the superintendent of public 
instruction, may be removed at the pleasure of the 
power by which they shall have been appointed. 
All officers elected by the people, except the gov- 
ernor, lieutenant governor, members of the general 
assembly, and judges of the courts of record learned 
in the law, shall be removed by the governor for 
reasonable cause, after due notice and full hearing, 
on the address of two thirds of the Senate" 1 (Art. 

vii § 4). 

Nor is the power of calling officials to account 

confined to the executive or legislature. By the 

charter of the City of St. Louis (1867), M every officer 

of the corporation, excepting the mayor and police 

justices * * * shall before entering upon the 

discharge of the duties of his office ^ive a bond to 

1 In Alabama, the governor, secretary of state, auditor, treasurer, attorney- 
general, superintendent of education, and judges of the supreme court, may 
be removed from office for certain causes, by the Senate sitting as a court 
of impeachment. The sheriffs, clerks of the circuit, city, or criminal courts, 
tax-collectors, tax assessors, county treasurers, coroners, justices of the 
peace, notaries public, constables, and all other county officers, mayors, and 
intendments of incorporated cities and towns in the State, may be removed 
from office for certain causes, by the circuit, city, or criminal court of the 
county in which such officers hold their office. But in all cases trial by jury 
and the right of appeal are allowed. 



OFFICES AND OFFICE-HOLDERS. 1 29 

the city * * * for the faithful discharge of his 
duty. * * . * For any breach of the condition 
of said bond, suit may be instituted thereon by the 
city, or by any person claiming to have been injured 
* * "* by such breach * * * for his own 
benefit " (§ 20), 1 

There can be no question that one of the most 
prolific sources of official corruption and incompe- 
tency lies in the multiplication of elective offices, and 
herein consists one of the great distinctions between 
national and State offices. The democratic doctrine 
is that all officers should be chosen by the people, 
and as is often added, should hold office for short 
terms. But the people may fill offices indirectly by 
vesting the appointment in some elected officer, and 
no violence is done thereby to the democratic doc- 
trine. In fact, when closely examined, the applica- 
tion of a system of elective offices, is of very limited 
scope, and especially with regard to executive or 
administrative offices. And yet the more do the 
purely administrative functions enter into the govern- 
ment, as in the State and municipal governments, as 
compared with the Federal government, the more 
general is the elective principle applied. Mr. Mill, in 
his work on " Representative Government/' recog- 
nizes the true principle that should govern the filling 
of executive offices. " A most important principle 
of good government in a popular constitution is that 
no executive functionaries should be appointed by 



130 THE AMERICAN CITIZEN'S MANUAL, 

popular elections, neither by the votes of the peo- 
ple themselves nor by those of their representatives. 
The entire business of government is skilled employ- 
ment * ; the qualifications for the discharge of it are 
of that special and professional kind which cannot 
be properly judged of except by persons who have 
themselves some share of those qualifications, or 
some practical experience of them. * * * All 
subordinate public officers who are not appointed 
by some mode of public competition should be 
selected on the direct responsibility of the minister 

1 This sentence of Mr. Mill contains an important truth, which militates 
against the idea of limiting the terms of offices of this class of officials. 
There is in every department of government a large number of rules or cus- 
toms which can be learned only by experience ; and as it is in the in- 
ferior grades of officers that this experience is found to exist, they may thus 
render essential service to their superiors, who may be ignorant of the prac- 
tical details of the department. These inferior officers are in a measure 
" skilled laborers," and if subject to frequent change would introduce confu- 
sion and inefficiency in the transaction of business. This idea has been very 
well expressed by Sir Geo. C. Lewis, when speaking of the English service. 
" The permanent officers of a department are the depositories of its official 
traditions. They are generally referred to by the political head of the office 
for information on questions of official practice, and knowledge of this sort 
acquired in one department would be useless in another. If, for example, 
the chief clerk of the Criminal Department of the Home Office were to be 
transferred to the Foreign Office, or to the Admiralty, the special experience 
which he has acquired at the Home Office, and which is in daily requisition 
for the guidance of the Home Secretary, would be utterly valueless to the 
Foreign Secretary, or to the. First Lord of the Admiralty. * * * Where 
a general superintendence is required, and assistance can be obtained from 
subordinates, and where the chief qualifications are judgment, sagacity, and 
enlightened political opinions, such a change of offices is possible ; but as 
you descend lower in the official scale the specialty of function increases. 
The duties must be performed in person, with little or no assistance, and 
there is consequently a necessity for special knowledge and experience. 
Hence the same person may be successively at the head of the Home Office, 
the Foreign Office, the Colonial Office, and the Admiralty ; he may be suc- 
cessively President of the Board of Trade, and the Chancellor of the Ex- 
chequer ; but to transfer an experienced clerk from one office to another 
would be like transferring a skillful naval officer to the army, or appointing 
a military engineer to command a ship of war." 



OFFICES AND OFFICE-HOLDERS. 131 

under whom they serve. * * * The functionary 
who appoints should be the sole person empowered 
to remove any subordinate officer who is liable to 
removal, which the far greater number ought not to 
be, except for personal misconduct.'' 

As illustrating the blind attempts that have been 
made to secure an honest and efficient government, 
it will be interesting to note some of experiments 
that were made in New York, for a great part of 
the resulting misgovernment was due to the loose 
responsibility caused by the manner of filling city 
offices. Measures were early taken to distribute 
the powers or government which had been abused 
while centralized in a few hands. The city was 
made subject to the control of two governments, 
that of the county and that of the city, 1 and the 
board of supervisors was entirely irresponsible to 
the mayor. Moreover it was provided that the 
board should be non-partisan, that is, composed in 
nearly equal numbers of men of both political par- 
ties, an arrangement which severed them from any 
party control. Many of the most important func- 
tions of the city government were entrusted to non- 

1 As the city and county of New York are the same in extent, for many 
years a double system of government existed, thus giving to the same terri- 
tory and population two distinct legislative bodies, independent of one 
another, and constantly liable to clash in interest and action. As the com- 
mon council is composed of two distinct boards, aldermen and councilmen 
(although there is little opportunity for securing that difference in constitu- 
tion and organization, which recommends such a division in the national and 
State legislatures), the duties of the board of supervisors were conferred 
upon the board of aldermen, and thus one unnecessary deliberative body 
abolished. 



132 THE AMERICAN CITIZEN'S MANUAL. 

partisan commissions or boards, appointed by the 
governor or Legislature, and thus perfectly inde- 
pendent of the control of the mayor. The actual 
situation was thus succinctly stated in the State con- 
stitutional convention of 1867. " The interference 
of the Legislature has, at length, reduced the city 
government to a condition of political chaos. The 
mayor has been deprived of all controlling power. 
The board of aldermen, seventeen in number, the 
board of twenty-four councilmen, the twelve super- 
visors, the twenty-one members of the board of 
education, are so many independent legislative 
bodies, elected by the people. The police are gov- 
erned by four commissioners, appointed by the gov- 
ernor for eight years. The charitable and reform- 
atory institutions are in charge of four commissioners 
whom the city comptroller appoints for five years. 
The commissioners of the Central Park, eight in 
number, are appointed by the governor for five 
years. Four commissioners, appointed by the gov- 
ernor for eight years, manage the fire department. 
There are also five commissioners of pilots, two 
appointed by the board of underwriters, and three 
by the chamber of commerce. The finances of the 
city are in charge of the comptroller, whom the 
people elect for four years. The street department 
has at its head one commissioner, who is appointed 
by the mayor for four years. Three commissioners, 
appointed by the mayor, manage the Croton aque- 



OFFICES AND OFFICE-HOLDERS. 1 33 

duct department. The law officer of the city, called 
the corporation counsel, is elected by the people for 
three years Six commissioners appointed by the 
governor for six years, attend to the emigration 
from foreign countries. To these there has recently 
been added a board of health, appointed by the gov- 
ernor." This system erred in two ways : it took the 
appointing power from the mayor ; and it deprived 
the residents of the city of any voice in the manage- 
ment of local affairs, because all their officers were 
appointed at Albany. 

The misgovernment that resulted from this piece 
of patch-work was even worse than that which had 
prevailed under the previous system, and as a further 
remedy, the charter of 1870, vested the appointment 
of the commissioners of the various departments in 
the mayor. But a great error was here committed, 
for the terms of office of these commissioners were 
made different from that of the mayor. Thus, four 
police commissioners were appointed for eight years ; 
five commissioners of charities and correction for five 
years ; one commissioner of public works for five 
years ; five fire commissioners for five years ; four 
commissioners of health for five years ; five com- 
missioners of parks, for five years ; one of buildings, 
for five years, and five, of docks to hold for five 
years. The comptroller and corporation counsel 
were elected and held office for five years. The re- 
sult of this was that as the mayor's term of office 



134 THE AMERICAN CITIZEN'S MANUAL. 

was but two years, he could be impeached and re- 
moved, but these officials retained their office unless 
they also could be impeached, which under the ex- 
isting circumstances (the city being then in the 
power of the Tweed ring) was a very difficult 
if not impossible thing to do. While the people 
could elect a mayor, the other officials could not be 
removed by the new mayor by impeachment, and 
no real change in the city government could result. 

Nor even at the present day, after many changes 
in the city charter, does there exist that complete 
control over executive functions which properly be- 
longs to the mayor. In his last message (1882), 
the mayor said: "It is proper that these matters 
should receive the most careful consideration at both 
your hands and mine, notwithstanding the fact that 
while the mayor and common council are held re- 
sponsible by the people for the state of our municipal 
affairs, we are virtually powerless under the present 
anomalous system, all administrative functions of real 
moment being exercised either directly by the heads 
of the executive departments, who are practically 
beyond control, or indirectly by the Legislature of 
the State, through special legislation." 

To sum up then, we may quote Dr. Lieber's 
words : " The former almost universal mode of ap- 
pointing by the Executive, with the consent of the 
Senate, seems to be far the best ; certainly no better 
one has yet been discovered." 



OFFICES AND OFFICE-HOLDERS. 1 35 

There is also a marked distinction between the 
national and State system of appointing judges. By 
the Constitution of the United States, the judges of 
the Federal courts are to be appointed by the presi- 
dent, with the advice and consent of the Senate ; 
they are to hold their offices during good behavior ; 
and are, at stated times, to receive for their services 
a compensation which shall not be diminished during 
their continuance in office (Art 3, § i). 

The object of these provisions is to secure the inde- 
pendence of the judiciary. "In monarchical govern- 
ments, the independence of the judiciary is essential 
to guard the rights of the subject from the injustice 
of the crown ; but in republics it is equally salutary, 
in protecting the Constitution and laws from en- 
croachments and the tyranny of faction. Laws, how- 
ever wholesome or necessary, are frequently the 
object of temporary aversion, and sometimes of 
popular resistance. It is requisite that the court of 
justice should be able, at all times, to present a de- 
termined countenance against all licentious acts ; and 
to deal impartially and truly, according to law, be- 
tween suitors of every description, whether the cause, 
the question, or the party be popular or unpopular. 
To give them the courage and the firmness to do it, 
the judges ought to be confident of the security of 
their salaries and station." ■ Nor is this indepen- 
dence less necessary when the relations of the Leg- 

1 Kent's " Commentaries," vol. i, p. 294. 



13^ THE AMERICAN CITIZEN'S MANUAL, 

islature to the judiciary are considered, for if the 
salaries of the judges could be altered and modified 
at pleasure by the Legislature, all check upon un- 
constitutional legislation which the judiciary now 
exercises would be done away with. It would ap- 
pear then as if the Federal judiciary was based upon 
the best system that could be devised. 

But the framers of State Constitutions thought 
otherwise, although it is only within a comparatively 
few years that the judges have been made elective 
in a number of States. Thus in 1830, in one half 
of the States judges were appointed by the govern- 
or ; and in the other States they were elected by 
the Legislatures in joint assembly, or they were 
nominated by the governor and confirmed by the 
Legislature. In 1878, in twenty-four States, the 
the judiciaries were elected by popular vote, in nine 
they were appointed by the governor, and in five 
they were elected by joint assembly. 1 

It requires little comprehension to see that this 
method of electing judges destroys the independence 

lii The short terms of office which characterize those States with a Legis- 
lative choice have been succeeded under popular elections by long terms. 
Under popular elections the term of the judges of the highest court in Cali- 
fornia and Missouri is ten years ; in West Virginia, twelve years ; in New 
York, fourteen years, and in Pennsylvania, twenty-one years, incumbents 
not being re-eligible in the last case. In fact, the average term oi popularly 
elected judges is not much less than ten years, with such classification as to 
secure the State against change of its whole bench at once. The Slates in- 
trusting judicial appointments to the governor, secure to the incumbent 
possession during good behavior, sometimes with a limit of superannuation. 
In those where the Legislatures elect, terms vary greatly ; from two years in 
Vermont to twelve in Virginia. The Vermont practice has been to elect 
judges every session — even annually when the sessions were annual." — War- 
ren in International Review } Sept., 1878. 



OFFICES AND OFFICE-HOLDERS. 137 

of the judiciary, which should be one of its most 
marked characteristics. For it makes a seat on the 
bench a reward of adhesion to a political party and 
makes the retention of it dependent on subservience 
to the party. " Popular election proceeds on the 
principle that the people are the source of all power ; 
which is true, in the last resort, and the persons 
elected are the agents of the people. But it is less 
true of judges by far that they are agents of the 
people than of any executive officer. There is 
nothing falling within the sphere of judicial action 
concerning which the judge can properly inquire 
what the people think or prefer. The same is in a 
degree true of the executive, but not to an equal 
extent of the legislative department. The existing 
law — from whatever source it comes — and the facts 
of the case the people have nothing to do with, as 
far as these bear on the trial ; the law can be altered 
for future cases, the verdict can be set aside perhaps 
by executive pardon, but the judge knows only ex- 
isting law with its principles and the irreversible 
facts. Now election by the people tends to make a 
man feel that he is the servant of the people who 
live at the present time, not of the law nor of the 
Constitution, which is the voice of the people for all 
time. How can this fail to injure his firmness and 
his righteousness, especially in cases where a politi- 
cal criminal has the people strongly for him or 
against him ? Even moral lessons the judge may 



138 THE AMERICAN CITIZEN'S MANUAL. 

not go aside from his strict duty to teach, how much 
less can he use his power as the people would have 
him, against the claims of justice ? But he will be 
apt to do this if he depends on the people for his 
power." z 

There is another class of office-holders of all 
grades and degrees in the various departments of 
the government, both State and national, who have 
no voice in the administration, but as chiefs of bu- 
reaus and clerks, are necessary for the transaction of 
business. In the Federal administration alone there 
are nearly ninety thousand such office-holders, and 
as new territory is opened up, the number is con- 
stantly increasing. That there should be any ques- 
tion on the manner of filling these places is a mat- 
ter for wonde^ for it would naturally be supposed 
that the only qualifications required would be fitness 
for the position, and administrative capacity. But 
instead of these, such appointments have been made 
on the basis of recommendations, influence, and of- 
ficial favor, a system that has introduced grave 
abuses in the civil service, as this department of the 
administration is called. 

These evils are supposed to have been begun by 
the passage of an act in 1820 to limit the term of of- 
fice of certain officers. "From and after the passing 
of this act, all district attorneys, collectors of the cus- 

1 Woolsey's " Political Science," vol. 2, p. 342. This subject of an elec- 
tive judiciary is very fully and ably treated by Mr. Dorman B. Eaton, in his 
pamphlet " Should Judges be Elected ? " (1873). 



OFFICES AND OFFICE-HOLDERS, 1 39 

toms, naval officers and surveyors of the customs, 
navy agents, receivers of public moneys for lands, 
registers of the land offices, paymasters in the army, 
the apothecary-general, the assistant apothecary-gen- 
eral, and the commissary general of purchases, to be 
appointed under the laws of the United States, shall 
be appointed for the term of four years, but shall be 
removable from office at pleasure." This law prac- 
tically placed these offices at the disposal of each 
new president or appointing officer, and the oppor- 
tunity was soon used for rewarding personal friends 
or politicians for their political services without any 
regard to the fitness of the appointments. Thus, 
during the eight years of General Washington's ad- 
ministration there were only nine removals, and all 
for cause. Mr. Adams made nine removals also, but 
it is believed that none were because of a difference 
of political opinion. Mr. Jefferson removed only 
thirty-nine office-holders ; Mr. Madison, during eight 
years, made five removals ; Mr. Monroe, during 
eight years, made nine ; and Mr. John Quincy 
Adams, during four years, made but two. On the 
accession of Mr. Jackson to the presidency in 1829, 
the whole system was changed, and the power of re- 
moval was freely employed. " Jackson, following a 
president who had almost created a hostile party, 
and being opposed by so many open and concealed 
enemies, decided to fill every vacancy with a parti- 
san of the administration, and further, to create va- 



HO THE AMERICAN CITIZEN'S MANUAL. 

cancies, whenever it should seem of party advantage, 
by exercising the almost unused privilege of removal 
from office. This made necessary, during the sum- 
mer of 1829, the application of the comparatively 
novel theory of ' rotation in office/ l by which nearly 
5oo postmasters were removed during Jackson's first 
year of office. The practice, thus begun, has since 
been followed by all parties in all elections, great 
and small, national and local." 2 

A further abuse arose in the assumption of local 
patronage by senators and representatives. In the 
early days of the republic, when means of communi- 
cation were slow and uncertain, the president very 
naturally consulted the State's representatives re- 
specting candidates for Federal offices in their States, 
for in no other way could he secure this knowledge. 
In time, however, the representatives regarded the 
power of advising the president in these particulars 
as a right, and even more began to dictate appoint- 
ments as if the Federal patronage in their State or 
district was their private property, to be used as 
seemed to them best. The result was that offices 
were used to build up political influence, and were 
bestowed for party services ; so that he who could 
manage a primary election or gain political advan- 
tage possessed stronger recommendation for office 
than he who was by capacity better fitted for the 
performance of its duties. 

J "To the victor belong the spoils," is the vulgar rendering of the phrase. 
,J Johnston's " History of American Politics," p. 105. 



OFFICES AND OFFICE-HOLDERS. 141 

As early as 1838 a movement was made to sep- 
arate office from politics. Mr. Calhoun described 
the proposed measure as a bill " to inflict the penalty 
of dismission on a large class of the officers of this 
government, who shall electioneer, or attempt to 
control or influence the election of public function- 
aries, either of the general or State governments, 
without distinguishing between their official and in- 
dividual character as citizens." x And later attempts 
have been made to prevent government officials from 
employing their official positions, either by intimi- 
dating their subordinates or by distributing patron- 
age to those whom they wish to conciliate, to per- 

1 See his speech of February 22, 1839. Von Hoist, speaking of Calhoun's 
remedy, viz. : to place the office-holders beyond the reach of the executive 
power, justly says : "If he had changed but one word, — if he had said 
party in power instead of executive power \ — this advice would, indeed, have 
been the egg of Columbus." Of another evil which has grown out of the 
relation between offices and party, viz. : political assessments, that is, such 
as are made on office-holders of all grades by a perfectly irresponsible com- 
mittee, to be expended in furthering the objects of the party, we need only 
make mention. Although, nominally, such contributions to the campaign 
fund are made " voluntarily" by the office-holders, yet their true nature is 
shown by many circumstances. Thus, in making its application the com- 
mittee fixes the amount which each man is to pay. In 1882 two per cent, of 
the annual salary was required, and was levied on all, from the chiefs of 
bureaus to the lowest laborer in the government navy-yards, and also levied 
alike on Republicans and Democrats. Moreover, in case the call was not 
responded to, employes of the committee went among the departments and 
made personal application to each delinquent. By experience the clerk 
knows that he must pay or be discharged, a fact which still more strongly 
brings out the "voluntary" nature of the contribution. Thus, the final 
sentence of a circular which emanated from such a committee reads : "At 
the close of the campaign we shall place a list of those who have not paid in 
the hands of the department you are in." The committee may expend the 
fund thus collected as it sees fit, and need render an account of such expen- 
diture to no man. Truth compels us to say that it forms a "corruption 
fund " for influencing elections, and the manner of expending it is as vicious 
and debauching to the public service as is the manner of collecting it. This 
matter has also been made the subject of legislation, but without any 
remedy being afforded. 



142 THE AMERICAN CITIZEN'S MANUAL, 

petuate their own party in power. But the evil 
cannot be cured by such legislation, and a much 
more radical reform must be adopted before it can 
be remedied. 

To such an extent was the abuse of patronage 
carried, that in 1853 and 1 855, acts were passed by 
Congress, requiring examinations for admission into 
the public service in departments at Washington ; 
but owing to defects in the law, and the strong de- 
termination of those who possessed the patronage to 
ignore its provisions, it was never effectively put into 
operation. 1 And it was not until 187 1 that any de- 
cided step was taken to reform the civil service. In 
that year the president was authorized to " prescribe 
such regulations for the admission of persons into 
the civil service of the United States as may best 
promote the efficiency thereof, and ascertain the 
fitness of each candidate in respect to age, health, 
character, knowledge, and ability, for the branch of 
service into which he seeks to enter " ; 2 and this 
resulted in the appointment of a civil service com- 
mission. This commission framed a system of com- 
petitive examinations, open to all alike and uniform 
in the departments ; but owing to the want of the 

I " Sec. 163. The clerks in the departments shall be arranged into four 
classes, distinguished as the first, second, third, and fourth class* 

II Sec. 164. No clerk shall be appointed in any department in either of the 
four classes above designated until he has been examined and found qualified 
by a board of three examiners, to consist of the chief of the bureau or 

into which such clerk is to be appointed, and two other clerks to be sd 
by the head of the department." — " Revised Statutes." 
* Act of March 3, 1S71. 



OFFICES AND OFFICE-HOLDERS. 143 

support of Congress, the commission was obliged to 
limit its operations, and the old system of appointing 
was practically continued. In 1875 a new system 
was introduced for making appointments in the 
treasury department, by which offices were appor- 
tioned among the States in proportion to their re- 
spective populations 1 — a measure which did not in 
the least remedy the evils existing under the old 
system. 

On the accession of Mr. Hayes to the presidency 
a renewed attempt to reform the service was made, 
and it had at the first the support of the president. 
But, so far as a general system of reform, applied to 
all departments of the government, but little prog- 
ress has been made. Individual officers have put 
into force such rules and regulations as seemed to 
them best suited to secure efficient office-holders in 
their own department (by Mr. Schurz in the interior 
department, Mr. James in the post-office of the 
City of New York, and Mr. Burt in the naval Office 
of New York), and the commission 2 has done 
good service in its reports and in the work it has 

1 M That the duties heretofore prescribed by law and performed by the 
chief clerks in the several bureaus named shall hereafter devolve upon and 
be performed by the several deputy comptrollers, deputy auditors, deputy 
register, and deputy commissioner herein named : Provided, That on and 
after January I, 1876, the appointments of this Department shall be so ar- 
ranged as to be equally distributed between the several States of the United 
States, Territories, and the District of Columbia according to population." 
Approved March 3, 1875. — "Statutes at Large," volume t8, pages 398 and 
399- 

2 The chairman of this commission, Mr. Dorman B. Eaton, deserves 
special mention for his endeavors to effect a true reform ; and his writings 
on this subject contain the best and most complete study of it. 



144 THE AMERICAN CITIZEN'S MANUAL, 

actually performed in the New York Custom House 
and elsewhere. And wherever a system of com- 
petitive examinations has been introduced under 
proper restrictions, the best of results have followed. 
Politics have been eliminated, influence and recom- 
mendation are of no weight, and the office becomes 
what it should be, for the transaction of business, and 
not to give aid to party. There is no valid reason, 
theoretical or practical, why these methods of ap- 
pointing should not be universally employed. 



[end.] 



Brief List of the more important Works to be referred to on 

the Political and Constitutional History of the 

United States. 

Woolsey, Theo. D.: " Political Science ; or, The State." 2 vols. New 
York, 1878. 

Mill, John Stuart : H Considerations on Representative Government." 
New York, 1875. 

Helps, Arthur : "Thoughts upon Government." Boston, 1875. 

Nordhoff, Charles: "Politics for Young Americans." New York, 

1877. 

" The Federal and State Constitutions, Colonial Charters, and other Or- 
ganic Laws of the United States." 2 vols. Washington, 1878. 

11 The. Federalist " : A collection of Essays, written in favor of the New 
Constitution, as agreed upon by the Federal Convention, Sept., 1787." 

Story, Jos. : "Commentaries on the Constitution of the United States." 
Edited by T. M. Cooley. 2 vols. Boston. 

Cooley, Thos. M. : "Constitutional Limitations upon the Legislative 
Power of the States of the American Union." Boston, 1868. 

Kent, James : " Commentaries on American Law." 4 vols. Boston. 

For the bibliography of history of the formation of the Federal Constitu- 
tion and its tendencies, see "Economic Tract, No. II," published by the 
Society for Political Education, New York. The debates in the conventions 
for framing State Constitutions contain much useful information. 

Von Holst, H. : " The Constitutional and Political History of the 
United States." 3 vols. Chicago, 1877. 

Hildreth, R. : " History of the United States " [to 1821]. 6 vols. 
New York, 1849-52. 

Schouler, James : "History of the United States of America under 
the Constitution." 2 vols. Washington, 1880. 

Sterne, Simon: "Constitutional History and Political Development of 
the United States. N. Y., 1882. $125. (Published by the Society for Politi- 
cal Education.) 

145 



146 THE AMERICAN CITIZEN'S MANUAL. 

Johnston, Alexander : " History of American Politics." New York, 
1882. 

Dillon, J. F. : " The Law of Municipal Corporations." 2 vols. New 
York, 1873. 

Union League Club. " The Report of the Committee on Municipal Re- 
form, especially in the City of New York." 1867. [Drawn up by Mr. 
Dorman B. Eaton.] 

" Report of the Commission to Devise a Plan for the Government of 
Cities in the State of New York." 1877. 

McCrary, Geo. W. : "A Treatise on the American Law of Elections." 
Chicago, 1880. 

Buckalew, ChAS. R. : "Proportional Representation." Phila., 1872. 

Hare, Thos. : " The Election of Representatives, Parliamentary and 
Municipal," 1865. 

Sterne, Simon : " Representative Government and Personal Representa- 
tion." 1871. 

Eaton, Dorman B. : " Civil Service in Great Britain." N Y., 1881. 

See also the M Reports of the Civil-Service Commission, "and the publica- 
tions of the Civil-Service Association. 

G. P. Putnam's Sons can supply any of the works on the above list which 
are still on sale. Some of the reports can, however, now be found only in 
reference libraries. General information and suggestions concerning the 
literature of Political Science can be obtained from the Society for Political 
Education, of which R. L. Dugdale, of 4 Morton St., N. Y., is Secretary', 
and G. P. Putnam's Sons are the publishing agents. 



PUBLICATIONS ON POLITICAL AND ECONOMIC 

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THE SERIES OF QUESTIONS OF THE DAY. 

I. The Independent Movement in New York, as an Element in 
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tavo, paper, 50 cts. ; cloth $1 00 

41 A clear and forcible presentation of truths which, while they have long been 
familiar, were never so timely and important as at the present time." — N. Y. Evening 
Post. 

II. Free Land and Free Trade. The Lessons of English Corn Laws 
Applied to the United States. By the Hon. Samuel S. Cox. Octavo, 
paper, 50 cts.; cloth $1 25 

" Clearly and forcibly written, and containing new and striking illustrations. The 
questions treated must soon become burning ones." — N. Y World. 

III. Our Merchant Marine : Its Rise, Progress, and Decline, with 
some considerations as to its Restoration. By David A. Wells. Octavo, 
cloth $1 00 



Economic Monographs. A series of Essays by representative writers 
on subjects connected with trade, finance, and political economy. Nineteen 
numbers have been issued, four of which are now out of print. Octavo, 
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PUBLICATIONS OF G. P. PUTNAM'S SONS. 

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Independence, and Members of the Continental Congress ; Statements 
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i2mo, cloth . . . . . . . . . i oo 

" The book is of so comprehensive a character and so compact a form that it is 
especially valuable to the journalist or student." — N. Y. World. 

What is Free Trade ? An adaptation for the American reader of 
Bastiat's " Sophismes Economiques." By Emile Walter. i2mo. 75 

* * * " xhe most telling statements of the leading principles of the free- 
trade theory ever published, and is, perhaps, unsurpassed in the happiness of its illus- 
trations."— The Nation. 

Latest publications. 

Mongredien (Augustus) The History of the Free-Trade Movement 
in England. (Library of Popular Information.) i6mo, cloth 50 

11 It is a small book, but it contains a great story. It ought to be read by every 
citizen who can read at all." — N. Y. Observer. 

Cooperation as a Business. By Charles Barnard. A volume con- 
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States and in Europe, in manufacturing, trade, house-building, etc. 
iomo . . . . . . . . . . I 00 

Summary of Contents. — A Hundred Thousand Homes — Fustian and Paisley 
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My Lady Shops— Provident Dispensaries— Conclusion. 

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formation concerning the practical application of the cooperative principle than any 
other volume with which we are acquainted." — A\ Y. Evening Post. 

Economic Tracts. (Published for the Society for Political Education). 

II. A Priced and Classified Bibliography of English and Ameri- 
can Works on Political Economy and Political and Social Science, 
recommended for general reading and as an introduction to special 
study. Prepared by W. G. Sumner, David A. Wells, W. E. 
Foster, and G. H. Putnam. 8vo, paper . . . . 25 

III. Subjects and Questions pertaining to Political Economy, Consti- 
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Current Politics. 8vo, paper . . . . . . . 10 

IN PRESS. 

The American Citizen's Manual. A practical treatise on the relations 
of the citizen to government, City, State, and National, and on his du- 
ties, responsibilities, and privileges. Edited by Worthington C. 
Ford. The volume, while issued in compact form convenient for ref- 
erence, is planned to give a comprehensive summary of the nature of 
American administration, local and national, and to supply full infor- 
mation on all the details of the work of a citizen. 



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Railroad Problem." The author has made himself the acknowledged authority on 
this group of subjects. If this book goes only to those who are interested in the own- 
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readers. 

11 Characterized by broad, progressive, liberal ideas." — Railway Review. 

Railroad Accidents ; their Causes and Prevention. 



I21T10, Cloth .......... I 25 

lk A most interesting and important work."— Railway World. 

il The entire conclusions are of great value." — N. Y. Journal 0/ Commerce. 

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lar Manuals Series.) i2mo, cloth . . . . . 1 25 

11 The laws of an abstruse science .have never been made more clear, or ex- 
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11 Contains the most telling statements of the leading principles of the free-trade 
theory ever published." — N. Y. Nation. 

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cal economy.) History of Political Economy in Europe. Trans- 
lated by Emily J. Leonard, with an introduction by the Hon. 
David A. Wells. 8vo, cloth, extra . . . . . 3 -,0 

This important work, by one of the ablest economists of this century, embraces 
an account of the economic ideas and systems that have prevailed in Europe from the 
times of the Greeks and Romans to the present generation, and of the causes which 
have produced the successive modifications in civil, industrial, and commercial ideas 
and in governmental policy. 

The principal subjects considered with reference to their economic effects, are: 
the institutions of Athens and of Sparta ; Rome under the republic and under the em- 
pire ; the advent of Christianity ; the disintegration of the Roman Empire ; the legis- 
lation of Justinian and of Charlemagne ; the feudal system ; the crusades ; the Jews of 
the middle ages; sumptuary laws ; trade corporations ; the Italian republics; the in- 
ventions of printing and of gunpowder ; the Protestant Reformation ; the seculariza- 
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cial reforms ; the mercantile system ; protection and free trade ; the rise of credit and 
the institution of banks ; the labors of the economists of the eighteenth century • the 
Independence of the United States ; the French Revolution ; the Continental block- 
ade ; the discoveries of Watt and Arkwright ; the suspension of specie payments by 
the Bank of England ; public debts ; the labors of the nineteenth century econo- 
mists and the social systems of St. Simon, Fourier and Owen ; the industrial affran- 
chisement since 1789 ; and the changes in the commercial relations of countries since 
the commencement of the nineteenth century. 

" This book is in the highest degree instructive, and in a popular sense exceed- 
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not well be overestimated." — David A. Wells. 



PUBLICATIONS OF G. P. PUTNAM'S SONS. 

Economic Monographs: 

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with Trade, Finance, and Political Economy. 



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